LAS CUEVAS, Trinidad (Reuters) — Relatives of a Trinidadian man who say he was killed in a U.S. military strike on a boat in the Caribbean this week are demanding evidence to back up allegations by U.S. President Donald Trump that those who died were trafficking drugs.
Trump has ordered a large U.S. military buildup in the southern Caribbean and U.S. troops there have conducted at least six strikes on boats the administration says were involved in drug trafficking, without providing evidence.
More than 80 people have been killed. The U.S. has described some of them as Venezuelans, while Colombian President Gustavo Petro has suggested others were from his country.
Family members of 26-year-old Chad Joseph said they believe he was killed in a strike on October 16, along with another Trinidadian man named by some media as Rishi Samaroo.
“I’m feeling very hurt. You know why? Donald Trump took a father, a brother, an uncle, a nephew from families. Donald Trump don’t care what he is doing,” said Joseph’s cousin, Afisha Clement, 41, who said Joseph was humble, calm and a father figure to her young daughter.
“If you say a boat has narcotics on it, where is the narcotics? We want evidence, we want proof. There is nothing,” she added.
Joseph’s great-uncle, Cecil McClean, 93, called the strike “perfect murder.”
“There is nothing they could prove that they are coming across our waters with drugs,” McClean said. “How could Trump prove the boat was bringing narcotics?”
Family members said Joseph was a fisherman who had traveled to Venezuela, where he had relatives, to find work six months ago.
Joseph’s mother Lenore Burnley said she has so far not been contacted by anyone from Trinidad and Tobago’s government, adding she saw social media posts naming her son as one of those killed in the strike.
“I put everything in God’s hands, God will give me my satisfaction,” Burnley said, when asked what she would say to Trump.
The Trump administration has provided scant information on the strikes, including the identities of those killed or details about the cargos. A new strike on Thursday appeared to be the first to leave survivors, a U.S. official told Reuters.
Legal experts have questioned why the U.S. military is carrying out the strikes instead of the Coast Guard, which is the main U.S. maritime law enforcement agency, and why other efforts to halt the shipments aren’t made before resorting to deadly strikes. Democrats have said the administration has failed to provide Congress with any credible justification or intelligence to justify its actions.
The Trump administration argues it is fighting Venezuelan narcoterrorists, making the strikes legitimate.
Trump also confirmed on Wednesday that he authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to conduct covert operations in Venezuela, marking a sharp escalation in U.S. efforts to pressure Maduro, who the U.S. has accused of links to drug trafficking and criminal groups.
Maduro denies the accusations and has repeatedly alleged the U.S. is hoping to drive him from power.
Venezuela has asked the United Nations Security Council to determine that deadly U.S. strikes on vessels off its coast are illegal.
Timeline of US strikes on alleged drug boats
Since September, President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have ordered controversial military strikes against boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean they say are ferrying drugs.
The Trump administration has alleged with little evidence that the boats were smuggling drugs from Venezuela and Colombia. The campaign so far has killed more than 80 alleged drug runners, according to officials.
Venezuelan and Colombian leaders have refuted the administration’s grounds for the attacks and slammed Trump for his military action.
On Capitol Hill, some leaders from both parties have questioned the legality of the strikes and whether the president has the constitutional power to authorize them.
(REUTERS/Andrea de Silva)
Here is a timeline of the operation:
Sept. 2, 2025
Trump posts video on his social media platform of what he says is a strike on a boat in the Caribbean carrying drugs to the U.S. The president says the 11 “Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists” aboard were killed and that they were operating under the control of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who denies the allegations.
In November, the Washington Post reports there were two survivors from the initial strike and they were killed in subsequent strikes.
Sept. 15, 2025
Trump announces a second strike that reportedly kills three people in the Caribbean.
The president says in a social media post there were “3 male terrorists killed in action.”
When asked by reporters about the strike, Trump says the incident occurred in international waters and insisted “we have proof” that the boat was carrying drugs because of the cargo in the ocean.
“Big bags of cocaine and fentanyl all over the place,” he says.
Sept. 19, 2025
Three people are killed in a third strike in the Caribbean.
Trump alleges they were working for an unspecified “designated terrorist organization.”
The president provides little detail about the operation but says intelligence indicated the vessel was trafficking drugs and was “transiting along a known narcotrafficking passage enroute to poison Americans.”
Oct. 3, 2025
The president reveals a fourth strike killed four people who he alleges were “male narcoterrorists.”
Trump alleges the boat was “loaded with enough drugs to kill 25 TO 50 THOUSAND PEOPLE.”
Colombian President Gustavo Petro posts on X that people on the boat were actually from Colombia.
Oct. 14, 2025
The president uses his speech to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Navy to reveal a fifth strike that reportedly kills six men in the Caribbean.
Trump alleges intelligence showed the vessel was “trafficking narcotics” and “was associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks.”
Oct. 16, 2025
A strike that hit a boat in the Caribbean had lingering effects after it was revealed there were survivors.
Video released by the Defense Department shows a semi-submersible that Trump alleges was “loaded up” with fentanyl. Two of the four people in the vessel are killed.
The two survivors, who Trump identifies as terrorists, were released to Colombia and Ecuador within hours, a move that prevents them from protesting their detention in court.
The same day, Adm. Alvin Holsey, the Southern Command chief who oversees military operations in the region, announces he’s stepping down after less than a year in what is normally a three-year posting.
Oct. 17, 2025
Hegseth announces a seventh strike in the Caribbean and alleges three men with ties to Colombian terror groups were killed in international waters.
Oct. 21, 2025
The operation targets its first boat in the Pacific Ocean, killing two people.
Hegseth says the eighth strike occurred in the waters west of Central America.
Oct. 22, 2025
The administration continues its attacks in the Pacific with a ninth strike on a boat.
Hegseth says the vessel was transporting narcotics and says three men were killed.
Oct. 24, 2025
Six people are killed when a boat is hit off the coast off Venezuela in the 10th strike in the operation.
Hegseth says the target was an alleged drug vessel operated by Tren de Aragua.
Oct. 27, 2025
In the biggest strike to date, 14 people are killed in the eastern Pacific, according to the defense secretary.
Hegseth says the U.S. targeted four alleged drug boats in three coordinated attacks.
One survivor is reported, according to Hegseth. The Mexican Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard search unsuccessfully for the survivor.
Oct. 29, 2025
The U.S. targets another boat in the eastern Pacific and kills four people in a 15th strike, according to Hegseth.
“This vessel, like all the others, was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” Hegseth says without providing details.
Nov. 1, 2025
Hegseth announces that three people are killed in a strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean.
“These narco-terrorists are bringing drugs to our shores to poison Americans at home — and they will not succeed,” Hegseth says in a post on X. “The Department will treat them EXACTLY how we treated Al-Qaeda. We will continue to track them, map them, hunt them, and kill them.”
Nov. 4, 2025
In a 16th strike, two people are killed when an alleged drug boat is struck in the eastern Pacific, Hegseth announces on X.
“We will find and terminate EVERY vessel with the intention of trafficking drugs to America to poison our citizens. Protecting the homeland is our TOP priority. NO cartel terrorist stands a chance against the American military,” Hegseth says.
Nov. 6, 2025
Hegseth announces three people are killed in a 17th strike on an alleged drug boat, this one in the Caribbean.
“To all narco-terrorists who threaten our homeland: if you want to stay alive, stop trafficking drugs. If you keep trafficking deadly drugs — we will kill you,” Hegseth says in a post on X.
Nov. 9, 2025
Hegseth the following day announces two strikes — the 18th and 19th — were carried out in the eastern Pacific, killing three people in each craft.
“Under President Trump, we are protecting the homeland and killing these cartel terrorists who wish to harm our country and its people,” Hegseth says in a post on X.
Nov. 13, 2025
The U.S. military carries out a strike on an alleged drug cartel boat in the Caribbean earlier in the week, killing all four people aboard, a U.S. official tells ABC News.
Nov. 15, 2025
The U.S. Southern Command posts a video on X of the latest strike on an alleged drug smuggling vessel. The strike occurred on Saturday in the eastern Pacific and killed three people aboard, according to officials.
The strike is the 21st against these kinds of vessels in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific, killing 83 people.
Nov. 28, 2025
The Washington Post reports new details about the Sept. 2 airstrike, citing two people with direct knowledge of the operations saying two survivors were spotted and another strike was ordered to kill them.
“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a spoken directive,” the Post reported.
One person familiar with details of the incident confirmed to ABC News that there were survivors from the initial strike on the boat and that those survivors were killed in subsequent strikes.
Hegseth labels the report as “more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting,” in a lengthy X post.
Nov. 30, 2025
Trump tells reporters he doesn’t know about the Washington Post report.
“He said he did not say that, and I believe him,” Trump says when asked about the report and Hegseth’s alleged order.
“We’ll look into it, but no, I wouldn’t have wanted that. Not a second strike. The first strike was very lethal,” the president added.
Dec. 1, 2025
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is asked about the administration’s policy handling of survivors in the air strikes.
She clarifies that it was Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley who gave the order for the second strike on Sept. 2 and that “he was well within his authority to do so.”
At the time, Bradley was the three-star general running Joint Special Operations Command. He became the four-star general running U.S. Special Operations Command in October.
By REUTERS
Reporting by Andrea de Silva; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Lincoln Feast.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
