Colombian family asks human rights court to probe US over deadly airstrike

Dec 5 (Reuters) – The family of a Colombian man who they say was killed in a U.S. airstrike off Colombia’s coast has taken their case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, seeking accountability for deadly U.S. attacks in recent months in the Caribbean and the Pacific, their lawyer said.

At least 83 people have been killed through targeted missile strikes as U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration ratchets up an offensive against what it has said are drug-trafficking boats.

Alejandro Carranza, a 42-year-old fisherman, was killed in a September 15 military strike off Colombia’s Pacific coast, according to the complaint filed by his family and U.S. lawyer Daniel Kovalik with the commission this week.

The complaint accuses the U.S. of an extrajudicial killing and human rights violations. 

Kovalik, who also represented Colombian President Gustavo Petro after he was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in October, said he hopes to hold U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other U.S. officials accountable for their role in ordering the strikes.

“I’d like to see Hegseth sacked. I would like the U.S. government to compensate these people, apologize and stop the killings,” he said in an interview on Thursday. 

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told Reuters that the strikes are part of Trump’s strategy to fight drug cartels.

“All of these decisive strikes have been against designated narcoterrorists, as affirmed by U.S. intelligence, bringing deadly poison to our shores,” she said in an email.

The Trump administration has said it is engaged in a non-international armed conflict with drug cartels, which it says have caused thousands of deaths in the United States.

It has designated the groups as terrorists and has described illegal narcotics as a weapon, while saying that attacks against suspected drug traffickers are self-defense. The administration has also said the attacks comply with the law of armed conflict. 

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Members of Congress on Thursday said they will investigate whether the U.S. military committed war crimes when carrying out the recent airstrikes.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, a human rights watchdog that is an autonomous arm of the Organization of American States, has no legal authority to enforce its findings or recommendations.

Still, Kovalik said he believes bringing the case forward could encourage others to pursue similar complaints and increase public scrutiny of the Trump administration over the attacks.

“Someone’s got to be first, and once you take that step, people come forward, forces come forward to help. And that’s starting to happen,” Kovalik said. 

Kovalik met Carranza’s family in November when he traveled to Colombia to meet with Petro.

“A positive decision from the commission, combined with public pressure, could have an impact. I think Trump cares about his poll numbers, and I think people are becoming disgusted by this, and I think this case will help increase the opposition to these bombings,” Kovalik added.  

In November, Trump’s approval rating fell to 38%, the lowest since his return to power, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has not publicly commented on Carranza’s case. It has denounced the Trump administration’s military strikes and in a recent statement urged the U.S. to “refrain from using lethal military force in the context of public security operations.”

(Reporting by Iñigo Alexander; Editing by Daina Beth Solomon and Edmund Klamann)