Pete Hegseth named the ‘perpetrator’ as family of civilian fisherman killed in U.S. strike embarks on seeking justice

The family of a Colombian fisherman allegedly killed during a US strike in the Caribbean has just filed the first known formal human rights complaint against the deadly attacks, specifically naming US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, per CNN.

That’s a huge deal for the Trump administration. The petition was filed with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, or IACHR, by US human rights attorney Dan Kovalik. The complaint alleges that the US committed an extrajudicial killing, which is a clear violation of human rights. It also claims that Hegseth is the “perpetrator” who “was responsible for ordering the bombing of boats like those of Alejandro Carranza Medina and the murder of all those on such boats.” That is a stunning charge to level against a high-ranking US official.

The complaint doesn’t stop with Hegseth. It also claims that President Donald Trump “ratified” the Secretary of Defense’s conduct. The Pentagon referred questions about the complaint to the White House. The victim at the center of this legal challenge is Alejandro Carranza, a Colombian citizen who was allegedly killed when the US struck his boat on September 15 off the coast of Colombia.

Someone will finally step in the way of negligent lethal force

The US narrative surrounding that incident is completely different from what Kovalik and Colombian officials are saying. President Trump had previously claimed the September 15 strike killed three “narcoterrorists from Venezuela” who were transporting drugs to the United States.

Kovalik strongly disagrees with that official version of events. He says Carranza was simply fishing for marlin and tuna when he was killed. Kovalik emphasized that fishing “was his profession and his vocation.” Colombian President Gustavo Petro has backed up this claim, stating that Carranza was a lifelong fisherman with absolutely no ties to the drug trade. Petro also noted that Carranza’s boat was displaying a distress signal because of engine damage.

Petro later conceded that Carranza may have accepted money to carry prohibited goods because he was in a difficult financial situation. However, Petro stressed that “never did his actions deserve the death penalty.”

This specific complaint is part of a much larger, worrying trend. Since early September, the US has executed at least 22 strikes on boats they claim are involved in drug trafficking across the Caribbean and the Pacific. These strikes have tragically killed at least 83 people. The White House has consistently defended these actions, repeatedly stating that the administration’s actions “comply fully with the Law of Armed Conflict.”

That area of international law is specifically designed to prevent attacks on civilians. The US tries to legally justify the strikes by claiming the boats were carrying individuals linked to roughly two dozen drug cartels supposedly engaged in an armed conflict with the US.

Kovalik, who filed the petition on behalf of Carranza’s wife and children, says this is just the beginning. He believes more formal complaints will follow. He is seeking compensation for the family and an immediate end to these kinds of killings. He stressed that “These killings are against international law. They are against US law. We want this to stop, and we think this is at least a first step to having that happen.”