(TNND) — The family of a Colombian fisherman who died in a U.S. military boat strike in September has filed what is believed to be the first formal complaint against the Trump administration’s attacks.
In the petition filed with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the family alleges the U.S. government killed Alejandro Carranza during a strike on Sept. 15. The Pentagon on Tuesday said that the administration’s actions “comply fully with the Law of Armed Conflict” as they try to fight back against drug cartels.
“From numerous news reports, we know that U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was responsible for ordering the bombing of boats like those of Alejandro Carranza and the murder of all those on such boats,” according to the petition obtained by ABC News. “Secretary Hegseth has admitted that he gave such orders despite the fact that he did not know the identity of those being targeted for these bombings and extra-judicial killings.”
President Donald Trump claimed the strike in September had killed “narcoterrorists from Venezuela” who were “transporting illegal narcotics headed to the U.S.”
Carranza’s lawyer, human rights attorney Dan Kovalik, told CNN the killings are against international law and that he thinks it is the first step to having it stop.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused the U.S. government of murder and insisted Carranza had no ties to the drug trade.
“US government officials have committed a murder and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters,” Petro wrote on social media. “Fisherman Alejandro Carranza had no ties to the drug trade and his daily activity was fishing. The Colombian boat was adrift and displaying the distress signal due to having an outboard motor. We await explanations from the US government.”
IACHR issued a statement on Tuesday expressing “deep concern” about the U.S. strikes that began in early September.
“The Commission urges the State to ensure that all security operations, including those carried out beyond its borders, are consistent with international human rights obligations, particularly regarding the protection of the right to life, the use of force, due process guarantees, and accountability mechanisms,” the statement read.
According to the War Department, the U.S. has conducted 21 strikes against suspected drug boats, resulting in 82 narco-terrorists being killed.
Recently, Hegseth has been under fire after a Washington Post report claimed he said to “kill everybody” after two survivors of an alleged Venezuelan drug boat were witnessed holding on to a destroyed vessel.
The defense secretary called the report “fake” during Trump’s Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, politicians on both sides of the aisle have suggested a review of the strike and said that if Hegseth directed everyone on the boat to be killed, it could be a war crime.