13 men killed by US military boat strikes identified: 'These were flesh-and-blood people'. 200 total killed [View all]
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/15/us-military-airstrikes-caribbean-pacific-victim-identities
13 men killed by US military boat strikes identified: These were flesh-and-blood people
All victims of US strikes in eastern Pacific and the Caribbean identified so far came from extremely poor communities
A five-month investigation has named 13 previously unidentified victims of US attacks on boats allegedly carrying narcotics in a campaign that has killed nearly 200 people in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific.
It is unclear if the US has ever identified any of its 194 victims before attacking them, and the names of just three had previously emerged, after their families launched legal cases against the White House.
Despite the US claim that the strikes are fighting narco-terrorism, what is actually happening is that young people living in extremely precarious conditions, doing whatever work they can to support their families, are being targeted, said María Teresa Ronderos, director and co-founder of the CLIP.
The investigation also underlined what other reports and security analysts have concluded: that the strikes have not reduced the flow of drugs to the US, but have instead torn apart communities already fractured and weakened by organised crime and state neglect.
There are communities where they stopped fishing for several weeks and if they do that, people go hungry because they were terrified of being bombed, said Ronderos.