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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.

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Anjali Kamat.

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ANJALI KAMAT: A year ago today, September 2nd, 2025, the U.S. 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 the U.S. struck again, killing them, as well. President Trump posted a grainy video of the first strike on social media, announcing to the world that 11 terrorists had been killed in action. The administration has refused to release video of the second strike on survivors, known as a “double-tap” strike, but it’s been seen by some members of Congress. The bombings have continued for a year, killing more than 220 people across roughly 70 strikes. Last month, the campaign, dubbed “Operation Southern Sphere,” was officially retired, but following a brief hiatus, the bombings have resumed.

U.N. experts issued a statement Tuesday demanding an end to the attack, saying, quote, “International law does not permit governments to simply murder alleged criminals at sea, just as the police cannot summarily execute people on the street in United States territory.”

AMY GOODMAN: In a new documentary, the investigative team at Al Jazeera’s Fault Lines traveled to St. Lucia and Colombia to meet two families who believe their loved ones, both fishermen, were killed at sea by the United States. In a moment, we’ll be joined by the film’s correspondent, Josh Rushing, but first, an excerpt from the film Killing at Sea.

TITUS JOSEPH: Normally when they’re going out, they’re going out 50, 60 miles. After they explode the boat — JOSH RUSHING: Yeah. TITUS JOSEPH: — the boat come all the way right here and come up. JOSH RUSHING: Our team at Fault Lines spent months working with journalists in six countries to find families of people believed to have been killed in the strikes. Most of them did not want to talk publicly. They were afraid of cartels, their own governments or the Trump administration. MERVIN JOSEPH: My brother, Ricky Joseph, was murdered by the government of the United States. JOSH RUSHING: But in St. Lucia, Ricky Joseph’s family was willing to speak with us. LUCILLIA CHARLES: I just get angry about it. JOSH RUSHING: They told us he wasn’t alone that day. He’d gone to sea with another man, Joseph William, who was known as Nathy. CAMERON TAYLIAM: Nathy was a brilliant fisherman. Brilliant fisherman, all right. This is one of my highest-paid captains. JOSH RUSHING: Cameron Tayliam rents boats to local fishermen. Ricky and Nathy were aboard one that day. CAMERON TAYLIAM: I tried calling Nathy, and I couldn’t get in touch with him. I tried calling multiple times. JOSH RUSHING: Most of these attacks leave behind no evidence. But in this strike, Cameron recognized his boat in videos circulating on social media and was able to salvage some of the remains before they sank. CAMERON TAYLIAM: When I brought the boat on shore, I realized it had my colors. It had the green on the outside. It had black to the bottom. It had red on the inside. I don’t want to believe it’s my boat, because I cannot believe that I just lose these brilliant guys. JOSH RUSHING: Cameron says multiple fishermen told him they saw a drone circulating above the boat before the strike. Ricky’s brother Titus says fishermen told him that they saw an explosion in the direction of Ricky and Nathy’s boat. Did you talk to other fishermen who saw it? TITUS JOSEPH: Well, the guys themselves that told us that they saw a boat run past them. After a while, they saw the explosion. They see a big fire and a big black smoke. JOSH RUSHING: What do you miss most about Ricky? TITUS JOSEPH: I miss everything about him. Everything about him. As I tell you, he is my backbone. Everything is Ricky, Ricky. You understand? Everything is Ricky. JOSH RUSHING: Ricky left behind his partner, Lucillia, and their four children. LUCILLIA CHARLES: He was a good father. He will stay without clothes, he will stay without shoes, and his children has everything. He loves being on the sea. He’ll go out to fish. On the weekends, we’ll go with him to fish, me and him, the children. He likes to speed up the boat, make us laugh, make us enjoy ourselves. Life is harder now, because right now I’m their mother, I’m their father. I have to figure out where do I get money to buy books, bags, shoes, send them to school. MERVIN JOSEPH: How will I ever be........

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