The Impact of U.S. Strikes in the Caribbean

0:00Today on State of the World, the impact of U.S. strikes in the Caribbean.

0:09You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories, up close where they're happening. It's Monday, October 27th. I'm Greg Dixon. Over the past two months, the U.S. has deployed warships to the Caribbean and destroyed boats officials say were carrying drugs, killing at least 43 people so far. Much of this flexing of military might is happening in the open waters near the small island country of Trinidad and Tobago. NPR's Ador Peralta went there, and he found that people are concerned and they want an explanation. Las Cuevas is a tiny town on the cliffs that overlook the Caribbean Sea.

0:50Renew Roberts, a fisherman, waits out the rain on a dock just off the water. These days, he says, things have totally changed here. A lot of people not going and fish. Really? Yeah. Since September, grainy videos released by the Pentagon appeared to show the U.S. blowing up wooden vessels out of the water. The U.S. says that these are drug boats. No, no, no, no. They're not? No, they are not. There's no drug boats. Like when they're making the run here, we're on drugs, running drugs. They don't go with more than three boats. Several times now, the U.S. says it has killed six people on those boats.

1:23And this scares Roberts because it doesn't make sense. Drug runners, for example, he says, would never waste valuable space on so many people. So when he's out on the water fishing, he wonders, what if the U.S. thinks he's running drugs? And these days, when he goes out at night, he hears a loud buzz in the sky. Drones. Oh, the drones. The drones. That scares you. That's scary. Once you see a drone, you just leave away from that. The United States insists its massive operation in the Caribbean is all about stopping drugs from flowing north. David Abdullah, a political analyst in Trinidad, says it feels like this is about much more.

2:04You don't need that kind of military asset to deal with some drug runners with some speedboats. So far, the U.S. has deployed bombers and war jets, guided missile destroyers and some 10 ,000 troops. And President Trump has warned that the U.S. may well go after what he calls narco-terrorists on land in Venezuela. Way back in our history, the Caribbean was in fact a major theater of war between colonial powers. What worries Zepdala is that it appears the Caribbean may be headed to the same place. If you drive south and west, all the way to where Trinidad ends, you end up in Cedros, a short boat ride away from Venezuela.

2:44I find Jesús watching some kids play in the surf. He hasn't seen Venezuela or his own three kids for three years. We're so close to home, he says. At the same time, so far, his eyes tear up.

3:04We live life through a screen, he says. Video calls with my kids and my mom. Jesus asked us to use only his first name because he fears retaliation from the government. He was a PE teacher in Venezuela. Now he's out on those waters every day catching fish. He says he's heard the drones hover overhead, but he keeps fishing. I ask him, they don't scare you? And he shakes his head. My fear, he says, is that something happens in Venezuela. He desperately wants change so he can go back to his family. But what would happen to his kids, he says, if the U.S. starts bombing?

3:50The next day, we head back up the coast to Las Cuevas, where a family is saying goodbye to their loved ones.

4:00From the small church to the family home, they carry a picture of Chad Joseph. The family says a few months ago he left for Venezuela, and on the same day he was to return on a fishing boat. The U.S. carried out a strike. Friends told family they recognized the boat from the video, and he hasn't been in contact since. But there's no body and no certainty. As every day go by, it's more, more, more pain. His aunt, Lynette Burnley, says neither the Trinidadian nor the U.S. governments have offered any answers. So the family has been left in a kind of purgatory. Joseph's grandmother, Christine Clement, says he was just a fisherman.

4:41She didn't attend the funeral service. Instead, she sat quietly in the corner of the family house. I don't want to believe. I hope and pray that he will come someday. She hopes that one day the phone will ring and it'll be him. Edipralta, NPR News, Las Cuevas, Trinidad and Tobago.

5:11That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening.