US airstrike near Venezuela may have killed two Trinidad citizens, police say

Police in Trinidad and Tobago are investigating whether two citizens were among six people killed in a US strike on a boat allegedly transporting drugs from Venezuela.

Without providing evidence, Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the strike killed six “narcoterrorists” in international waters, allegedly transporting drugs from Venezuela to the United States.

Trinidadian police said residents of the village of Las Cuevas reported that the two citizens were on the sunken vessel, but could not confirm their deaths.

At least 27 people have been killed so far in such attacks off the coast of Venezuela, which the Trump administration says are necessary to protect the United States from smuggled narcotics from Venezuela.

Lenore Burnley, mother of 26-year-old Trinidadian fisherman Chad Joseph, told AFP by phone that people her family know in Venezuela “told them he was on the boat”.

“According to maritime law, if you see a boat, you are supposed to stop the boat and intercept it, not just blow it up. That’s our Trinidadian maritime law and I think every fisherman and every human knows that,” she said.

Burnley said her son was planning to return to Trinidad and Tobago after spending three months with family in Venezuela, just 6.8 miles (11km) away.

Local media reported another Trinidadian victim from Las Cuevas, known as Samaroo to locals.

In response to US military build-up in the region, Nicolás Maduro, ordered large-scale military exercises on Wednesday and said he was mobilizing the military, police and a civilian militia to defend his country.