In a tragic twist, one of those fishermen, Chad Joseph, a 26-year-old national of Trinidad was killed. News reports confirm he was the target of a recent U.S. airstrike near Venezuela. The airstrike was conducted over international waters. This event has raised significant alarm bells among the authorities of Trinidad and Tobago as well as the local Trinidadian and Tobagonian people. According to news reports, Joseph was intercepted on a boat he was supposedly using to smuggle Colombian drugs from Venezuela to the US.
According to the U.S. military operation, six people were killed. Former President Donald Trump called them “narcoterrorists.” The strike, occurring just under 6.8 miles (11 km) from Trinidad and Tobago’s shores, added to tensions in the region, T&T Guardian reported. Chad Joseph’s Venezuelan family was forced to flee their country in 2017. He was just about to head home when the unthinkable happened.
Trinidad and Tobago’s police, meanwhile, are still trying to determine whether Joseph was one of the seven men killed in the airstrike. The local news media have covered one other Trinidadian victim from Las Cuevas, who was known to locals as Samaroo. This unusual somber incident fits into an even wider pattern of violence in waters off the coast of Venezuela. In the past few months, over 27 individuals died in such acts. U.S. law enforcement agencies have recently increased pressure on drug trafficking out of Venezuela.
In response to the U.S. military buildup, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has moved to counter with ordering massive military exercises. He is actively mobilizing and militarizing military, police and civilian militia forces to go on the offensive to protect Venezuela from imaginary threats. This new advance worsens an already volatile situation in the region.
Lenore Burnley, Chad Joseph’s mother, expressed deep sorrow over her son’s death and criticized the manner in which the U.S. handled the situation.
“According to maritime law, if you see a boat, you are supposed to stop the boat and intercept it, not just blow it up. That’s our Trinidadian maritime law and I think every fisherman and every human knows that,” – Lenore Burnley
The Trump administration justifies these strikes as necessary measures to protect the United States from smuggled narcotics emanating from Venezuela. The relentless battle between American law enforcement and drug runners continues to take a deadly toll on civilians. Individual fishermen, like Chad’s friend Chad Joseph, are made more vulnerable in this deadly workplace.