The families of two Trinidadian men killed in a US strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat have filed a lawsuit against the American government. Lawyers filed the claim in Boston's federal court on behalf of relatives of Chad Joseph and Rishi Samaroo, among six men killed off the coast of Venezuela on 14 October. One of the lawyers stated that the strike amounted to 'lawless killings in cold blood; killings for sport and killings for theatre'. The US has targeted at least 36 vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific since September, resulting in over 120 deaths. Though the US government claims it is addressing 'narco-terrorism', legal experts warn that these operations may violate laws governing armed conflict. This lawsuit, filed under the Death on the High Seas Act, was initiated by Joseph's mother and Samaroo's sister, who assert that the men were returning from fishing and farming work in Venezuela when their boat was struck. Joseph's mother emphasized that if the US believed her son had committed any wrongdoing, it should have arrested and charged him, rather than resorting to violence. The lawsuit seeks to classify the deaths as wrongful, asserting that neither man was engaged in hostilities against the US. The Pentagon has yet to issue a response. This lawsuit follows a similar case brought by the family of a Colombian individual killed in a separate US strike, which was taken to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.