La Toya, from Trinidad and Tobago, accuses Trump of having killed his cousin, Chad “Charpo” Joseph, in one of his military attacks against vessels in Caribbean waters. “Everyone has the right to due process and that right was not respected. We no longer seem to be under the command of our own government when it comes to what happens at sea: those are no longer Trinidadian waters,” he tells The Guardian during his cousin's wake while wondering why US authorities decided to destroy the boat instead of detaining and interrogating its occupants. La Toya also accuses the Government of Trinidad and Tobago of having ceded its sovereignty to the United States.
Relatives of two Trinidad men who were apparently killed in one of the US military strikes are accusing Donald Trump of “killing poor people” without due process and demanding justice.
Chad “Charpo” Joseph and Rishi Samaroo, from the fishing village of Las Cuevas, in northern Trinidad, are among the six people who died in a US airstrike against a ship that allegedly transported drugs from Venezuela, according to the US.
I just want to know why Donald Trump goes around killing poor people like that just because. Just because he wants the countries' gas and oil. It goes after the wealth of the populations and kills the children of the poor
Relative of one of the victims
Donald Trump has described the six deceased as “narcoterrorists” and has stated that “intelligence services confirmed that the boat was trafficking drugs.”
The family members and members of the community present at the wake claim to feel betrayed by their own Government and at the mercy of the Trump Administrationwhich has been granted unlimited access to the country's sovereign waters.
“I just want to know why Donald Trump goes around killing poor people like that,” laments Joseph's uncle, known only as Dollars. “Only because he wants the countries' gas and oil. He goes after the wealth of the populations and kills the children of the poor.”
Lynette Burnley, Joseph's aunt, explains that since her nephew's death the Government of Trinidad has not contacted the family.
“That leaves a bad taste in me too,” Burnley says. “People from all over the world are calling us, from abroad, but here in Trinidad, nothing. They are unfortunate, they have failed us.”
Last week, Trinidadian Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who had previously expressed strong support for an operation American military in the region, he dodged journalists' questions about the US airstrike in which Joseph and Samaroo were said to have died.
“Imagine, the prime minister… They ask her about the attack and she doesn't even answer,” laments Burnley, who adds that the authorities act as if Joseph and Samaroo “don't exist.”
Joseph's grandmother, Christine Clement, explains that she was very close to her grandson. That he moved out of his mother's house in another fishing town, Matelot, and went to live with her. According to him, he has only received support from the community.
“Everyone is very affected because in this community we are all family and friends and we are very united… Our own police, no one comes to ask questions. There is no investigation, nothing,” he laments. He says he tries to stay calm and control his blood pressure.
Regarding the second man who died in the attack, Samaroo, the villagers have little information about him.
It appears that he was released from prison in 2021 after serving time for his involvement in the murder of a street vendor in 2009. Many of the neighbors only knew him by his last name. They explain that he used to offer to help with anything – small jobs, mechanics – but especially with the animals.
In the various recent attacks in the Caribbean, US authorities have made no effort to reduce the damage or attempted to demonstrate that the people aboard the ships posed an imminent threat to life.
Juanita Goebertus Estrada
— HRW Director for the Americas
Since there is no body to bury, family and friends are organizing a mass in his memory. “I spoke to the priest and told him what had happened,” explains Burnley.
Last Thursday, the US media reported on another attack on a ship in the Caribbean, from which there are reportedly survivors. At least 27 people have been killed in previous attacks off the coast of Venezuela, which Trump Administration considered necessary to protect the United States from drug trafficking from Venezuela, but which UN experts and human rights groups have described as extrajudicial executions.
Last month, fishermen from Las Cuevas told The Guardian who fear being caught in the crossfire of Trump's “war on drugs” in the region. Instead of following their usual route westwards, towards Venezuela, they explained that they now prefer to sail eastwards, staying close to the Trinidad coast. On Thursday, the villagers explained to The Guardian that the fishermen no longer want to go out to fish.
That same day, activist David Abdulah, on behalf of the regional executive committee of the People's Assembly Caribbeandemonstrated in front of the United States embassy in Port of Spain and declared that the Caribbean must remain a “zone of peace.”
Referring to Washington's episodes of interference in Haiti and Latin America throughout history, as well as the invasion of the Caribbean island of Grenada in 1983 by the United States, Abdulah warned that they face an imminent threat to the sovereignty and peace of the region.
Presenting a regional declaration condemning renewed US militarization, he stated: “The people of the Caribbean must stand firm against any attempt to drag us into war.”
For her part, Juanita Goebertus Estrada, director for the Americas of the NGO Human Rights Watch, points out that the attacks violate international law and constitute extrajudicial executions. “The United States is not involved in an armed conflict with Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago or the alleged criminal groups involved,” he says. “In accordance with the rules of international law, law enforcement officials must seek to minimize harm and preserve human life. They may only resort to lethal use of force when it is strictly unavoidable to protect against an imminent threat of death or serious injury,” it adds.
In this sense, the director of the NGO maintains that “in the various recent attacks in the Caribbean, the US authorities have made no effort to reduce the damage nor have they tried to demonstrate that the people on board the ships represented an imminent threat to life.”
Translation by Emma Reverter