Trinidadian villagers mourn boat victims of US airstrike

Relatives of two men from Trinidad believed to have been killed in a US military strike on a boat in the Caribbean have accused Donald Trump of "killing poor people" without due process and are demanding justice.

- Kejan Haynes Las Cuevas Natricia Duncan Kingston

Chad “Charpo” Joseph and Rishi Samaroo, from the fishing village of Las Cuevas in northern Trinidad, are thought to be among six people killed in a US airstrike on a boat allegedly transporting drugs from Venezuela.

Trump has described the six killed on Tuesday as “narcoterrorists”, claiming that “intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics”. But speaking to the Guardian at a wake for the two men, Joseph’s cousin La Toya, 42, said he had been denied the basic right to due process and accused the Trinidad and Tobago government of giving up its sovereignty to the US.

"Everybody have a right to due process and due process wasn't given. It don't look like we running under our government no more when it comes to the waters - that's not Trinidad waters," she said, questioning why US officials had decided to destroy the boat rather than detain and question its occupants.

At a wake for the men late on Thursday, family and community members said they felt betrayed by their own government and at the mercy of a Trump administration that has been given unfettered access to their waters.