The family of a Colombian fisherman has filed a formal complaint accusing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of murder.
Alejandro Andres Carranza Medina was killed Sept. 15 in a U.S. military strike on a boat in the Caribbean, and the 42-year-old fisherman's wife and four children filed the complaint Tuesday with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) alleging the United States committed human rights violations in an “extra-judicial killing," reported The Guardian.
“From numerous news reports, we know that Pete Hegseth, U.S. Secretary of Defense, was responsible for ordering the bombing of boats like those of Alejandro Carranza Medina and the murder of all those on such boats," reads the filing. "Secretary Hegseth has admitted that he gave such orders despite the fact that he did not know the identity of those being targeted for these bombings and extra-judicial killings."
"U.S. President Donald Trump has ratified the conduct of Secretary Hegseth described herein," the filing adds.
The family's lawyer, Daniel Kovalik, told the Washington Post that the man's wife and children had been left without their breadwinner and were also facing threats after speaking out about his killing.
“Their world has been turned upside down,” Kovalik said.
Carranza was killed in the second missile strike of the Trump administration's bombing campaign against alleged drug smuggling boats, but his family said he was a fisherman who trolled the water for marlin and tuna.
“This morning, on my Orders, U.S. Military Forces conducted a SECOND Kinetic Strike against positively identified, extraordinarily violent drug trafficking cartels and narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility," Trump posted on Truth Social the day Carranza was killed.
The president claimed the crew of that boat was from Venezuela, but the Colombian government soon identified them as Colombian.
“We think this is a viable way to challenge the killing of Alejandro," Kovalik said. "We are going to seek redress for the family. We want the US to be ordered to stop doing these boat attacks. It may be a first step but we think it it’s a good first step.”
Carranza's family is seeking compensation, although their attorney acknowledged the IACHR doesn't have the authority to enforce its recommendations.
“They also want the killings to stop,” Kovalik said. “We hope that this can be at least part of the process of getting that to happen.”
Hegseth is facing scrutiny over his verbal directive that led to the killing of two survivors of the first boat strike, on Sept. 2, and the Carranza family's IACHR complaint cited Washington Post reporting on that incident.