Today marks one year since the United States began an unlawful campaign of lethal military strikes targeting vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, claiming 227 lives. US officials should be urgently held to account for these killings, Human Rights Watch said today.
Under President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, the US military has conducted 69 unlawful strikes since September 2, 2025, under a broader military campaign that the administration claims seeks to curtail drug trafficking in the Western Hemisphere. But killing people at sea without trial, regardless of their alleged involvement in criminal activity, is a violation of international law.
"The Trump administration has summarily killed more than 200 people over the course of the past year, bragging about these killings online and facing no accountability," said Ida Sawyer, crisis, conflict and arms director at Human Rights Watch. "The victims and their loved ones deserve a full accounting of these operations, and justice for the grave harm they have suffered."
The two most recent attacks killed two people on August 23, 2026, and another four on August 25. The killings dashed brief hopes that the abusive campaign had come to an end after the administration did not report any strikes in July.
Instead, the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) announced a new joint task force on August 4 to coordinate military action with 18 partner countries across the Americas, suggesting intentions to expand operations in the region. In a news release announcing the August 23 strike, SOUTHCOM Commander Francis Donovan stated that, "When I ordered the establishment of Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere, it was precisely for this purpose: to accelerate, synchronize, and execute lethal actions against these destabilizing narco-terrorist networks."
With support of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Center for Constitutional Rights, relatives of two victims who were believed to have been killed in a strike in October 2025 filed a federal lawsuit against the US government on January 27, 2026, seeking compensation for the deaths.
According to the complaint, one of the reported victims, 41-year-old Rishi Samaroo, was working in Venezuela when he decided to return home to nearby Trinidad to help care for his ailing mother. Human Rights Watch interviewed Samaroo's sister, who said he called her on October 12 to let her know that he and a friend, 26-year-old Chad Joseph, were going to catch a ride on a boat headed to Las Cuevas, Trinidad.
She said that he told her he would see her in a few days. "After that, I never heard from him again," she said. "We called him, but nothing, no one answered." She then learned that the United States had attacked a vessel on or around October 14, and concluded that Samaroo was killed in the strike.
The federal complaint similarly states that Joseph, who had been fishing and doing other temporary work in Venezuela for six months, called his wife on October 12 to let her know "he would be home in a couple of days," after he found a boat to take him home to Las Cuevas. But they never heard from him again. "He used to send me messages and call me regularly, but since that day [of the attack], nothing. I have not heard anything from him," his mother told Human Rights Watch. "I believe he died there."
In an attempt to justify its extrajudicial killings, the US government has claimed that it is engaged in an armed conflict with certain drug trafficking organizations in Latin America; an argument apparently outlined in a secret legal memorandum prepared by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel that the administration refuses to publicly disclose.
The US government has asserted that it is only attacking "vehicles suspected to be affiliated with designated terrorist organizations," but says the list of these organizations is also "not publicly releasable." The Southern Command has also said that it could not "provide a publicly releasable accounting of all US military strikes and interdictions conducted."
Regardless of how the US government characterizes the victims of these maritime strikes, under international law, the United States is not engaged in an armed conflict with another state or non-state actor in the Caribbean or Pacific. Accordingly, US military conduct in this context is governed by international human rights law, which prohibits the intentional use of lethal force except when strictly necessary to protect life. The administration has not released information that would support the conclusion that any of the victims posed an imminent threat to anyone's life.
The United States should immediately end its unlawful campaign of extrajudicial killings and guarantee access to justice and reparations for victims, Human Rights Watch said. Congress, meanwhile, should consider establishing a special investigative committee on the lethal strikes, ensuring a detailed public accounting of the killings, including who was involved in their authorization and execution. The Justice Department should also investigate the killings and take appropriate prosecutorial action. If current leadership fails to do so, it should be a priority of future administrations.
Other governments that partner with the United States to support drug interdiction efforts in the region should condemn the killings, cease sharing intelligence that may be enabling the United States to make these strikes, and raise concerns about violations of international law directly with US officials. These governments should also take steps to determine whether some of their intelligence sharing activity with the United States risks making them complicit in the strikes.
"The Trump administration has had complete impunity for this campaign of unlawful killings for a year, and has stated openly that it has no intention of stopping," Sawyer said. "Other countries should refrain from any cooperation on these strikes, and Congress should urgently work to rein in the deadly actions of an administration bent on violating international law."
