Us Airstrike In Caribbean Draws Complaint Before Human Rights Watchdog

The family of a Colombian man killed in a U.S. airstrike in the Caribbean filed a formal complaint Tuesday with a multinational human rights commission accusing the Trump administration of violating international law by carrying out an extrajudicial killing.

Relatives of Alejandro Carranza Medina argue in a complaint filed with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that he was denied his rights under international law to due process and a fair trial when he was killed in the Sept. 15 airstrike off the coast of Colombia in what U.S. authorities said was an attack on drug smugglers.

Though IACHR rulings aren’t binding on the U.S. government, the family’s petition is the first legal challenge of airstrikes conducted under President Donald Trump that have killed at least 83 people off the coasts of Central and South America.

“From numerous news reports, we know that Pete Hegseth, US Secretary of Defense, was responsible for ordering the bombing of boats like those of Alejandro Carranza Medina and the murder of all those on such boats,” the family said in the complaint. “Secretary Hegseth has admitted that he gave such orders despite the fact that he did not know the identity of those being targeted for these bombings and extra-judicial killings.”

The commission has long been a way to challenge human rights abuses in the Western Hemisphere, but the U.S. hasn’t ratified the enforcement treaty and does not consider its findings legally binding. Still, an adverse finding is an embarrassment to a nation that has customarily been seen as an advocate for the rule of law.

In the complaint, first reported by The Guardian, the family says Carranza was a fisherman who also took jobs piloting boats for others. Colombian President Gustavo Petro said in October that the man may have been “intermittently’’ involved with the drug trade.

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement that all of the military’s strikes “have been against designated narcoterrorists bringing deadly poison to our shores, and the President will continue to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country.”

Human rights attorney Dan Kovalik, who represents Carranza’s relatives, said he met with the family in Colombia last month after Petro, whom he also represents, enlisted his help. He then opted to file a complaint with ICHRA because “there's a lot of barriers” to bringing a lawsuit against U.S. officials, especially regarding conduct that occurred outside of the country, he said.

Kovalik acknowledged that the IACHR lacks enforcement authority but said he hopes that “the case before the commission, combined with public pressure, could force the U.S. to do something.”

The complaint comes as the Trump administration faces growing bipartisan pressure over a Sept. 2 attack in which the military carried out a follow-on strike killing two survivors of an initial airstrike in the Caribbean Sea. Congressional committee leaders have vowed “vigorous oversight” in the wake of a Washington Post report that Hegseth authorized the strike, which several lawmakers allege may have constituted a war crime.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that Hegseth authorized Adm. Frank Bradley to order the strike and that Bradley was “well within his authority to do so.” Hegseth on Tuesday cited the “fog of war” in defending the strike, adding that he “didn’t stick around” for the second strike.

The Pentagon deferred to the Justice Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the complaint.

Kovalik said the furor surrounding the Sept. 2 strike strengthens his case against the Trump administration.

“This just adds to the weight of evidence that the U.S. is involved in killing people who, one, they don't even know who they are, but in killing people without trial who have no way to defend themselves,” he told POLITICO.