Formal protest against the US – Colombian man killed

TT

Published 17.14

 

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. Photo: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP/TT

Relatives of a Colombian man who was killed in one of the US attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea have filed a formal protest against the US.

The protest comes at a time when criticism of Washington for the many attacks at sea has escalated.

The document has been submitted to the human rights body (IACHR), which is part of the Pan-American Cooperation Organization OAS. In the complaint, the man's relatives dismiss claims that there were drugs in the boat's cargo. In fact, it was a fishing boat, with 42-year-old professional fisherman Alejandro Carranza Medina on board, it is written.

The attack took place on September 15 and was part of the US's ongoing operation against so-called "drug boats" in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific, where at least 22 ships have been attacked, resulting in the deaths of more than 80 people.

The procedure has been met with sharp criticism from lawyers and former military personnel, who believe that the attacks constitute a violation of international law and possibly even war crimes.

"We know that Pete Hegseth, the US Secretary of War, was responsible for ordering the bombing of boats like the one belonging to Alejandro Carranza Medina and the killing of all those aboard these boats," the protest states.

In recent days, Hegseth has come under fire after reports of an ordered so-called double attack, where the US military carried out a second shelling of a boat after it was determined that two people had survived the first attack.