Alejandro Carranza's loved ones say he went fishing off Colombia's Caribbean coast. A few days later, he was dead. He is one of 32 alleged drug-traffickers killed by US military strikes.
Carranza's family from Santa Marta, in northern Colombia, is questioning White House claims that he was carrying narcotics on a small vessel targeted last month.
His wife Katerine Hernández, describes him as "a good man" devoted to fishing.
"Why did they just take his life like that?" she asked during an interview Monday with AFP.
She denied he had any connection to drug-trafficking.
"The fishermen have the right to live. Why didn't they just detain them?"
Since September, the United States has begun bombing boats in the Caribbean, with critics accusing Donald Trump's administration of carrying out extrajudicial executions.
The White House and Pentagon have provided little evidence to support their claims that those targeted were involved in trafficking.
Colombia's President Gustavo Petro, who opposes the US military presence in the Caribbean, has also claimed Carranza was innocent.
Petro said his crew suffered a mechanical failure at sea.
"The Colombian boat was adrift with a distress signal, its engine raised," Petro wrote Saturday on X. "He had no ties to drug-trafficking. His daily activity was fishing."
However, Colombian media have reported that Carranza had a criminal record for stealing weapons in collaboration with gangs.
Prosecutors contacted by AFP refused to confirm or deny the reports.
The US government has released statements and images claiming to show strikes on at least seven boats allegedly carrying drugs, resulting in 32 deaths.
AFP has not been able to independently verify this toll.
He stopped calling
Before his last trip, Carranza told his father he was going to a place "with good fish."
Days passed without contact, until the family saw news of the bombing on television.
"The days went by and he didn't call," Hernández said.
The deadly strikes have sparked a diplomatic dispute between the United States and Colombia, historically close partners.
Petro condemned the attack as a violation of Colombian sovereignty and called it an "assassination," while Trump retaliated by calling Petro an "illegal drug-dealer" and promising to halt all US economic aid to the country.
Friends interviewed by AFP also insisted Carranza was a fisherman.
"He went offshore to catch sierra, tuna, and snapper, which are found far out at this time of year," said César Henríquez, who has known him since childhood.
"He always came back to Santa Marta, secured his boat, and went home. I never knew him to do anything bad," Henríquez told AFP.
A Colombian and an Ecuadorean are the only survivors so far of US attacks in the Caribbean.
The Colombian, returned in serious condition, will face trial as a "criminal" accused of drug-trafficking, according to the government.
The Ecuadorean was released after authorities confirmed he had no pending charges.
– TIMES/AFP
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