Overview
- The complaint was filed in federal court in Massachusetts by Lenore Burnley and Sallycar Korasingh, represented by the ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights.
- It challenges the Oct. 14 strike on a small vessel off Venezuela that killed six people, including Trinidadians Chad Joseph, 26, and Rishi Samaroo, 41.
- Plaintiffs invoke the Death on the High Seas Act and the Alien Tort Statute and seek monetary damages rather than an injunction.
- The administration describes the targets as “narcoterrorists” in an armed conflict, yet it has released no public evidence linking the men or the boat to cartels or drugs.
- U.S. Southern Command now attributes at least 126 deaths to 36 strikes since September, and the Pentagon declined to comment on the new lawsuit.