Police in Trinidad and Tobago are investigating reports that two of the country’s citizens may have been among six people killed in a U.S. military strike on a vessel allegedly transporting drugs from Venezuela.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that the strike targeted six “narcoterrorists” operating in international waters, accusing them of smuggling narcotics from Venezuela to the United States.
According to Trinidadian police, residents from the fishing village of Las Cuevas reported that two locals were aboard the vessel that was destroyed. Authorities said they are still working to confirm whether the men were among the dead.
The U.S. operation is one of several in recent months targeting alleged drug traffickers off the coast of Venezuela. At least 27 people have reportedly been killed in similar strikes, which Washington says are part of efforts to stop drug shipments before they reach American shores.
One of the missing Trinidadians has been identified by relatives as 26-year-old fisherman Chad Joseph. His mother, Lenore Burnley, told AFP that family contacts in Venezuela said he was aboard the ill-fated boat.
“According to maritime law, if you see a boat, you are supposed to stop the boat and intercept it, not just blow it up,” Burnley said. “That’s our Trinidadian maritime law and I think every fisherman and every human knows that.”
She said Joseph had been staying with family in Venezuela for the past three months and was planning to return home soon. Local media also reported another possible Trinidadian victim from Las Cuevas, known to residents only as Samaroo.
In response to heightened U.S. military activity in the region, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro ordered large-scale military exercises on Wednesday, saying he was mobilizing the armed forces, police, and civilian militias to defend the nation.
The incident follows controversial remarks from Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who recently praised a U.S. strike on another suspected drug boat in the southern Caribbean that killed 11 people.
“I, along with most of the country, am happy that the U.S. naval deployment is having success in their mission,” Persad-Bissessar said in a statement. “The pain and suffering the cartels have inflicted on our nation is immense. I have no sympathy for traffickers; the U.S. military should kill them all violently.”
“Our country has been ravaged by bloody violence and addiction because of the greed of the cartels,” she added. “The slaughter of our people is fueled by evil cartel traffickers.”
Authorities in Port of Spain say they are in contact with Venezuelan officials and the U.S. Embassy as they work to verify whether Trinidadian nationals were among the victims of the strike.
