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· collected 2026-09-06 · by Katharine Lake Berz
Freelance reporter Darryl Coote contributed reporting to this story.
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Coote → contribute → story
The water was choppy under our small boat, but the placid sky above the Caribbean Sea posed the greater danger.
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sky → pose → danger
Beside me on the rolling sea sat Jowayne Noreiga, a 36-year-old man who looked older than he was.
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he → sit → sea
He said he had already lost two friends to President Donald Trump’s yearlong anti-drug cartel campaign, which has killed more than 227 people in 68 airstrikes as of Aug. 25.
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which → say → Aug.
He knew he could be next.
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he → know → ?
“We used to be afraid of storms, hard tide, big breezes,” Jowayne said.
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Jowayne → use → storms
“Now we are afraid of being ignited.”
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we → ignite → ?
I travelled to Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago because the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) says that the men it strikes are members of “designated terrorist organizations.”
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it → travel → organizations
Trump calls them “terrorist thugs,” says they belong to “savage drug cartels,” and steer “world-class speedboats” that run “very fast.”
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that → call → speedboats
However, the boat I was in, a much-battered wood-and-fibreglass pirogue with three bench seats and an outboard motor, was much like the one in which Jowayne’s friends Rishi Samaroo and Chad Joseph were killed on Oct. 14, 2025, off the coast of Trinidad.
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friends → batter → Trinidad
It was not world-class, and it did not run very fast.
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it → run → ?
What I found in the homes and communities of four of the men who died told a story very different from the president’s.
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who → find → president
The families, friends and neighbours of the dead told me their sons, brothers and husbands were fishermen, not narcoterrorists.
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sons → tell → me
Their only crime, their relatives told me, was being poor.
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relatives → tell → me
In the heart of alleged cartel country, I found fishing villages hollowed out by fear, families grieving and hungry and governments that had abandoned them.
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that → find → them
After a two-month pause, the Trump administration revived its boat strike campaign last month, killing four alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean and two in the eastern Pacific.
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administration → revive → Pacific
The president says the operations have stopped almost all drug trafficking by sea.
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operations → say → sea
However, Pentagon and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration analysts have found that the strikes have not reduced the amount of cocaine entering the United States.
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strikes → find → States
A few days after my boat trip off Trinidad, I visited a marine police station near the beach in Saint Lucia.
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I → visit → Lucia
There, I saw the burned-out bow of the small outboard motorboat that was carrying Nathy William and Ricky Joseph when they died on Feb. 13, 2026.
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they → see → Feb.
SOUTHCOM acknowledges executing a deadly strike on a boat on that day; the slain men’s names have never been officially released, but those mourning in Saint Lucia have no doubts.
Nathy was 53.
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Nathy → acknowledge → doubts
His family described him as a quiet, generous man, slim and strong, with a neatly trimmed moustache and a habit of showing up whenever anyone needed help.
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anyone → describe → help
Ricky, 35, kept chickens, tended a small grove of banana trees and always found time to play with his children.
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Ricky → keep → children
On the morning of the strike, they set out early, as they did most days, from the tiny port of Micoud to fish for marlin, tuna and snapper.
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they → set → marlin
When they failed to return that evening, their families grew worried.
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families → fail → ?
“I was calling his phone, calling his wife,” Ricky’s older brother Titus told me.
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brother → call → me
“She was telling me she couldn’t get through.
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she → tell → me
I started getting concerned.”
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I → start → ?
The truth emerged in bits and pieces: rumours of an explosion, then a photo on social media of a blue-and-black boat, like the one the men were on, burning at sea.
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men → emerge → sea
The men’s fate seemed clear.
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fate → seem → ?
But no one from any government has told their relatives what happened or why.
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what → tell → relatives
The families are left with hearsay, the photo and their questions.
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families → leave → hearsay
Nathy’s mother, Therese, is blind and cannot walk more than a few steps.
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mother → walk → steps
From her tiny living room, she described a kind and attentive son, devoted to her.
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she → describe → her
The last time she heard from him, he promised to come and fix the cracks in her plywood walls.
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he → hear → walls
He also promised to bring a refill of her heart medicine.
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He → promise → medicine
She held my hand and wept.
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She → hold → hand
For his mother and the rest of his family, the attack made no sense.
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attack → make → sense
He was no criminal, his sister Lucie said, as her small grandchildren played in her cabin on a hill overlooking the fishing docks.
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grandchildren → say → docks
He barely got by.
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He → get → ?
…and 84 more, not listed.
