Family of dead fishermen claim murder in Venezuela missile strike

BOSTON (CN) — Controversial missile strikes against boats traveling from Venezuela have led to a lawsuit against the Trump administration, with family members of two fishermen killed in a strike claiming the strikes violate U.S. and international laws on murder.

On Oct. 14, 2025, a boat carrying six people traveling from Venezuela to Trinidad was struck in a U.S. missile strike, killing all on board. Among the dead were two Trinidadian nationals who, according to a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday, were fishing off the Venezuela coast and working on farms in that country, not transporting drugs.

Relatives of the two men say in the suit filed in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts that the strike violates international laws prohibiting extrajudicial killings, federal law prohibiting murder, and the 1949 Geneva Conventions.

“These premeditated and intentional killings lack any plausible legal justification,” the relatives say in the 22-page complaint. “Thus, they were simply murders, ordered by individuals at the highest levels of government and obeyed by military officers in the chain of command.”

This past summer, the United States deployed three destroyers to the Venezuela coast, claiming it was targeting “designated terrorist organizations” in the country.

The first missile strike took place in early September, targeting a vessel the administration claimed was operated by Tren de Aragua. Since then, a total of at least 36 such strikes have been made against boats in those waters, killing about 125 people.

Among the dead are Trinidad natives Chad Joseph, 26, and Rishi Samaroo, 41, who died in the Oct. 14 strike.

Joseph traveled to Venezuela in April 2025 for work, and his plans to return home to Trinidad that summer were cut short when another vessel had engine trouble. Joseph then called his wife on Oct. 12 to tell her he found another ride home, the relatives say in the lawsuit.

Samaroo also worked in Venezuela as a fisherman and construction worker, and on Oct. 12 he called his sister to tell her he was returning.

Two days later, both men were killed. In stills from a declassified 33-second video of the strike released by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the boat can be seen exploding and catching fire after being struck by a missile.

The White House did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the lawsuit. A Pentagon spokesperson said the agency does not comment on ongoing litigation.

The Trump administration claims its missile strikes are legal, citing a yet-unseen memorandum stating the U.S. government is engaged in armed conflict against Latin American drug cartels.

“Regardless of any secret evidence the government claims to have to support its unprecedented legal theory, as a matter of plain fact and settled law, there is no bona fide ‘armed conflict’ between the United States and any purported drug cartels,” the relatives say in their complaint.

Further, since the boat strikes did not occur in armed conflict, international human rights rules and federal law — and not the laws of war — regulate the strikes, the families say. Lethal force is allowed only as “a necessary last resort to protect against concrete, specific, and imminent threat of death or serious physical injury,” the suit claims.

The administration largely has ceased its missile strikes since the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife on charges related to narcoterrorism. The U.S. military has conducted only one vessel strike so far in 2026, killing two passengers.

The relatives seek compensation under the Death on the High Seas Act and the Alien Tort Statute. ACLU Foundation of Massachusetts attorney Jessie Rossman signed the complaint on behalf of the families.

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