The families of two Trinidadian men killed in a US strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat have filed a lawsuit against the American government. Lawyers filed the claim in Boston's federal court on behalf of relatives of Chad Joseph and Rishi Samaroo, among six men killed off the coast of Venezuela on 14 October. One of the lawyers commented that the strike amounted to 'lawless killings in cold blood; killings for sport and killings for theatre.' The US has confirmed operations against 36 vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific since September, claiming to target 'narco-terrorists' responsible for drug trafficking.

This lawsuit was initiated under the Death on the High Seas Act, allowing family members to seek justice for wrongful deaths at sea, and it also allows foreign citizens to sue for breaches of international law in US courts. Relatives assert that the two men, engaged in fishing and farming work in Venezuela, had been returning to Trinidad and Tobago when their boat was struck. Joseph's mother stated that if the US felt her son had committed a crime, they should have arrested him instead of killing him.

The lawsuit maintains the killings should be classified as wrongful deaths because the men were not participants in military hostilities against the US. The Pentagon has yet to publicly respond. This incident follows a similar case from the family of a Colombian man killed in a separate US strike, who has sought answers from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.