Alejandro Carranza’s family members say he left residence on Colombia’s Caribbean coast to fish in open waters. Days later, he was useless — considered one of no less than 32 alleged drug traffickers killed in U.S. army strikes.
From Santa Marta, northern Colombia, Carranza’s household is questioning White Home claims that he was carrying narcotics aboard a small vessel focused final month.
For his spouse Katerine Hernandez, the 40-year-old was “a very good man” dedicated to fishing.
“Why did they simply take his life like that?” she requested throughout an interview Monday with AFP.
She denied he had any hyperlink to drug trafficking.
“The fishermen have the best to dwell. Why did not they simply detain them?”
The Trump administration has stated the U.S. is in a “non-international armed battle” with drug cartels, arguing that the narcotics they smuggle kill tens of hundreds of People yearly, constituting an “armed assault.”
Since the USA started bombing boats within the Caribbean in September, critics have accused the Trump administration of finishing up extrajudicial executions.
The White Home and Pentagon have produced little proof to again up their claims that these focused had been concerned in trafficking.
Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, a critic of the U.S. army presence within the Caribbean, has additionally claimed Carranza was harmless.
Petro stated his crew suffered a mechanical failure at sea.
“The Colombian boat was adrift with a misery sign, its engine raised,” Petro wrote Saturday on X. “He had no ties to drug trafficking. His every day exercise was fishing.”
Nevertheless, Colombian media have reported that Carranza had a felony file for stealing weapons in collusion with gangs.
Prosecutors contacted by AFP refused to substantiate or deny the studies.
The U.S. authorities has launched statements and pictures purporting to point out strikes on no less than seven boats allegedly carrying medicine, leaving no less than 32 useless.
“The times glided by and he did not name”
Earlier than his final journey, Carranza informed his father he was heading to a spot “with good fish.”
Days handed with out contact, till the household discovered of the bombing on tv.
“The times glided by and he did not name,” Hernandez stated.
MARCO PERDOMO/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
The lethal strikes have sparked a diplomatic row between the USA and Colombia, traditionally shut companions.
Petro condemned the assault as a violation of Colombian sovereignty and labeled it an “assassination.” In a put up on X, Petro stated the U.S. operation was a part of a “failed technique” to “management Latin America … and acquire low cost oil from Venezuela.”
Mr. Trump later known as Petro an “unlawful drug chief” and threatened to chop off U.S. assist to the South American nation.
Final month, Washington introduced it had decertified Colombia as an ally within the combat in opposition to medicine. Colombia hit again by halting arms purchases from the USA, its greatest army associate.
Associates interviewed by AFP additionally insisted Carranza was a fisherman.
“He went offshore to catch sierra, tuna, and snapper, that are discovered far out right now of 12 months,” stated Cesar Henriquez, who has identified him since childhood.
“He at all times got here again to Santa Marta, secured his boat, and went residence. I by no means knew him to do something dangerous,” Henriquez informed AFP.
A Colombian and an Ecuadoran are the solely survivors thus far of U.S. assaults within the Caribbean. A U.S. Navy helicopter transported these survivors of the assault from the semi-submersible to a Navy ship, a supply acquainted with the matter confirmed to CBS Information on Friday.
The Colombian, repatriated in critical situation, will face trial as a “felony” accused of drug trafficking, in line with the federal government.
The Ecuadoran was launched after authorities stated he had no pending expenses. A authorities official, who requested to not be recognized as a result of they weren’t licensed to talk on the matter, informed The Related Press that the Ecuadorian man, recognized as Andrés Fernando Tufiño, was in good well being after medical evaluations.
