Family of Colombian fisherman killed in strike in the Caribbean files formal complaint against US
The petition was sent to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and is the first of its kind in connection with attacks against alleged drug-running boats
The family of Alejandro Carranza, the fisherman identified by Colombian President Gustavo Petro as one of the civilians killed in the U.S. strikes against alleged drug-running boats in the Caribbean, has filed a formal complaint against the United States with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). The news, first reported by the British newspaper The Guardian and confirmed by EL PAÍS, marks the first complaint filed with an international body in connection with the military campaign launched in September on Donald Trump’s orders, and which has already claimed the lives of over 80 people.
The petition, which this newspaper has seen, was filed by Daniel Kovalik, a human rights lawyer and President Petro’s legal representative in several international cases. The document briefly explains the events in which it alleges Carranza died: “On September 15, 2025, the United States military bombed the boat of Alejandro Andrés Carranza Medina, on which he was sailing in the Caribbean, off the coast of Colombia. He died in the strike. Mr. Carranza was a fisherman and a Colombian citizen.” The man allegedly went out to fish and never returned home.
The complaint directly targets U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, accusing him of being responsible for ordering the strikes against vessels like Alejandro Carranza Medina’s. The document says that Hegseth “was responsible for ordering the bombing of boats like those of Alejandro Carranza Medina and the murder of all those on such boats.” The document also states that Secretary Hegseth’s conduct was “ratified” by Trump.
“By carrying out this extrajudicial killing, the United States has violated the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man,” states the petition signed by Carranza’s wife, Katerine Hernández Bernal. The family accuses the United States of violating the rights to life, equality before the law, recognition of legal personality, a fair trial, and due process. According to the document, there is a witness to the killing: a leader of a fishermen’s association in Santa Marta who has chosen to remain anonymous due to “threats from paramilitaries.”
Petro denounced in late October that Washington’s second attack in the Caribbean Sea against a vessel (on September 15) had targeted a Colombian fisherman and “presumably” occurred in Colombian waters. The Colombian president stated that the man, whom he identified as 42-year-old Carranza, had no connection to drug trafficking. Trump, for his part, reported that three “Venezuelan narco-terrorists” were killed in the operation, allegedly transporting illegal narcotics destined for the United States.
The UN and several human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have labeled the strikes against suspected drug-running boats as “extrajudicial killings.” The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, has said that these actions “violate international law.” The military campaign, dubbed Operation Southern Spear, began with attacks on vessels in the Caribbean Sea, which then spread to the Pacific Ocean, the most common drug trafficking route from South to North America. More than 80 people have died, and only two survivors have been identified: a Colombian and an Ecuadorian, who were aboard a suspected narco-submarine when it was attacked on October 18. Both were released in their respective countries after no charges were filed against them.
The IACHR, based in Washington, D.C., is an organ of the Organization of American States (OAS) and its role is to promote and protect human rights in the Americas. If the IACHR finds that one of the 35 member states is responsible for human rights violations, it issues a report that can include recommendations, reparations, sanctions against perpetrators, and calls for legislative changes. If an amicable solution cannot be reached, cases can be referred to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, whose rulings are binding. The United States is one of the founding members of the OAS.
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