February 10, 2026
The bombing happened Oct. 14 when U.S. military forces attacked the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean
The families of two Trinidadian men label the October 2025 airstrike bombing as a “cold-blooded murder” after issuing a wrongful death and extrajudicial killings lawsuit against the Trump Administration.
Family members of Chad Joseph and Rishi Samaroo spoke out about President Donald Trump referring to victims as narcoterrorists without any proof. Joseph’s uncle, Columbia “Pops” Salvary, said that’s far from the truth. “He’s supposed to face murder charges because it’s a criminal offense. You cannot be bombing people’s boats here like that, you know, on international waters, saying narcotrafficking,” Salvary said, according to Democracy Now.
“And where is your proof? You know? Where is your proof?”
The bombing happened Oct. 14 when U.S. military forces attacked the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean, where Joseph and Samaroo were just two of roughly 125 victims. Family members say the men, 26 and 41, were returning home from fishing and farming in Venezuela, which they often did, and were not smuggling drugs like Trump and other members of his administration, such as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, has alleged.
Attorney Baher Azmy, who represents both families, agrees with them, calling the victims’ deaths “killings for sport and spectacle.” “It’s the latest example of the Trump administration’s total mockery of, contempt for the post-World War II human rights consensus, where nations are constrained by law and not mere might,” Azmy said.
The litigation alleges violations of the Death on the High Seas Act and the Alien Tort Statute, allowing lawsuits against the U.S. to take place from foreign citizens if human rights violations occur overseas. ABC News reported Joseph was hesitant about traveling back and forth after catching wind of the boat bombings but was “determined to return to his wife and their children as soon as possible.”
Samaroo worked on the same farm as Joseph and planned to go back home in order to take care of his sick mother. The suit is seeking both compensatory and punitive damages.
The bombings have been labeled as controversial, causing high-ranking military leaders to resign after raising questions. Democratic leaders like Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia have questioned the authenticity of the attacks and called for files to be released. “I’d like to talk about the complete weakness of the legal rationale about the strikes on boats in international waters, but I can’t, because the administration has only shared it with members in a classified setting,” the senator said during the first public hearing to address U.S. involvement in Venezuela.
“I can’t tell you why the domestic rationale is hollow and the international rationale is hollow.”
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