Family of Colombian man killed in US fireboat strike, files appeals – national
The family of a Colombian man killed in a US strike on a drug plant in the Caribbean has filed a formal complaint with the country’s leading human rights agency, arguing the man’s death was a homicide.
The complaint filed by American human rights lawyer Daniel Kovalik, on behalf of the family of Alejandro Carranza, said that after the killing of US soldiers in the Caribbean in September, and that his death violated human rights conventions.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights received the request on Tuesday, which was first reported by the Guardian. Because the US does not see the International Court of Justice as a human rights organization, any recommendations given by the Commission will not be legally binding.
Koluk said the four children of Carranza and his wife want compensation, as he was the breadwinner of the family.
Koluk told the Associated Press that the family chose the commission because of the challenges the federal case would face, but it may still be on the table.
“The US is not getting accountability, so we are using the means we have in front of us,” Koluku said on Wednesday.
“We believe that our decision of kindness, combined with public pressure, can make us get compensation and we can end the carnage in the Caribbean,” he continued.
In November, after the strike that killed Carranza, Colombian President Gustavo Petro was accused by the US government of X.
Get news from around the country
Get the top stories of the Day, politics, economics, and current affairs, delivered to your inbox once a day.
“The authorities of the US government have killed and violated our sovereignty in the waters of the world. The fisherman Zaranza did not have drugs for the drug trade and his daily job was fishing,” said Petro.
The U.S. military has killed more than 80 people since September, after it began operating on boats its commanders were unable to handle any aid to people killed in the strikes.
Carmela Medina, Mother of Alejandro Carranza, a Colombian man suspected when the US blew up a boat allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean, cooks in Stanta Marta on October 21, 2025.
(Phomarco Perdomo / AFP via Getty Images
The military offensive began on Venezuela’s Caribbean coast before spreading to the eastern Pacific Ocean. At the same time, the US military has increased its presence in the region to other generations.
The strike that killed Carranza also killed two others. At the time, when reporters were being questioned about the evidence of criminal activity on board, Trump told reporters that bags of cocaine and fentanyl had been found floating in the ocean.
The White House has never released photos of the Trump organization it targeted.
Koluk says there were no drugs in Carranza’s boat, and says his client did not know other people were in the container. Koluk, who also represents President Gustavo Petro in the US and the administration of the Trump Administration, said he met with the Carranzas at their home in Northern Colombia.
Petro, a left-leaning leader, called the boat attack “murder” and condemned the use of American troops.
The attack faced heightened scrutiny after the Washington Post reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order to “kill everyone” on the first boat targeted by the military.
The Admiral accepted the follow-up strike – he said it killed the two survivors of the first. Hegseth said the attorney “made the right call” and had “absolute authority” to do so, the AP reported.
Carranza’s lawyer also says that the family cannot get the necessary resources to get extradition to Colombia, and they have received death threats from cool groups that enter the country to denounce the death of their loved one.
– With files from the accompanying media
& Copy 2025 Global News, Division of Corse Entertainment Inc.
