"Went to Sea and Never Came Back": Families of Fishermen Seek Answers After Deadly U.S. Boat Strikes

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A year ago today, the United States bombed a small boat in the Caribbean, killing nine people on board. Two survivors clung to the wreckage for 45 minutes, reportedly waving for help, before a second "double-tap" strike killed them, too. President Trump posted a video of the first attack on social media, announcing that 11 terrorists had been killed in a military operation that would be called "Operation Southern Spear." The second video, showing the killing of the survivors, has never been released. The bombings have continued for a year, killing at least 227 people in nearly 70 separate strikes. The Pentagon often accuses the boats it targets of narcotrafficking.

In a new documentary, the investigative team at Al Jazeera's Fault Lines traveled to St. Lucia and Colombia to speak with two families who believe their loved ones, both fishermen, were killed at sea by U.S. airstrikes. "They describe it as a war. They describe these people as enemy combatants that are attacking America," says Josh Rushing, a senior correspondent for Fault Lines who worked on the documentary. In reality, "it's unclear, really, if the U.S. government knows who they're killing … They've never named anyone in any of the strikes."

"We had the 'war on drugs,' the 'war on terror.' This is kind of the worst of both," says Rushing.

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