Alejandro Carranza’s family members say he left dwelling on Colombia’s Caribbean coast to fish in open waters. Days later, he was lifeless — one in every of at the very least 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 great 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 precise to stay. Why did not they simply detain them?”
The Trump administration has said the U.S. is in a “non-international armed battle” with drug cartels, arguing that the narcotics they smuggle kill tens of hundreds of Individuals yearly, constituting an “armed assault.”
Since america 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 mentioned 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 day by day exercise was fishing.”
Nonetheless, Colombian media have reported that Carranza had a legal 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 at the very least seven boats allegedly carrying medicine, leaving at the very least 32 lifeless.
“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 realized of the bombing on tv.
“The times glided by and he did not name,” Hernandez mentioned.
MARCO PERDOMO/AFP by way of Getty Pictures 
The lethal strikes have sparked a diplomatic row between america and Colombia, traditionally shut companions.
Petro condemned the assault as a violation of Colombian sovereignty and labeled it an “assassination.” In a submit on X, Petro mentioned the U.S. operation was a part of a “failed technique” to “management Latin America … and procure low cost oil from Venezuela.”
Mr. Trump later called Petro an “unlawful drug chief” and threatened to chop off U.S. help 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 america, its largest army companion.
Buddies interviewed by AFP additionally insisted Carranza was a fisherman.
“He went offshore to catch sierra, tuna, and snapper, that are discovered far out at the moment of yr,” mentioned Cesar Henriquez, who has recognized him since childhood.
“He all the time got here again to Santa Marta, secured his boat, and went dwelling. I by no means knew him to do something dangerous,” Henriquez informed AFP.
A Colombian and an Ecuadoran are the only survivors so 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 accustomed to the matter confirmed to CBS Information on Friday.
The Colombian, repatriated in critical situation, will face trial as a “legal” accused of drug trafficking, in response to the federal government.
The Ecuadoran was released after authorities mentioned he had no pending prices. 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.
