Imagine being 26 years old fisherman earning a living in a quiet Venezuelan village. That was Chad Joseph, until Tuesday when, according to his family, his boat was obliterated by the U.S. military. Joseph, from Trinidad and Tobago, had been living in Venezuela recently and told his family he would soon be taking a short boat ride back home. The official line? That his vessel was connected to “terrorist organizations and “narcotrafficking,” But his family got questions.
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In fact, they vehemently deny it, painting a devastatingly different picture. This isn’t an isolated incident either; it’s one of six such attacks since September, pushing the death toll to 27.
“If you say a boat has narcotics on it, where is the narcotics? We want evidence, we want proof. There is nothing,” Afisha Clement, Joseph’s cousin, according to reports.
Several days have passed since Joseph has been heard from. With social media rumors swirling and the lack of communication from Joseph, his family came to the gut-wrenching conclusion that he was one of the six people killed on the boat. However, they’ve been unable to confirm it because the names of the dead have not been released. It is also believed that another Trinidadian man was killed in the same strike.
The attack has drawn criticism for alleged violations of international law and human rights, with the optics more like a reaction to “a hunch” than concrete evidence.
In the aftermath, Joseph’s mother, Lenore Burnley, awaits a response from the Trump administration, maintaining that authorities should stop a boat that’s under suspicion “not just blow it up,” as reported by the New York Times.
Burnley’s sentiment echoes the administration’s departure from previous practices, where authorities focused on arresting suspects rather than using lethal force.
The New York Times also highlighted experts who say the strikes are illegal because “the military is not supposed to deliberately target civilians — even criminal suspects.”
The deviation from respect to disregard for civilians raises serious concerns about accountability that Burnley and others desperately seek but may remain unresolved, as long as transparency appears to be a low priority.
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