Senior Reporter
anna-lisa.paul@guardian.co.tt
The family of Rishi Samaroo is speaking out for the first time since news that he was reportedly among two Trinidad and Tobago nationals killed in a US strike on a suspected drug-smuggling vessel on October 14 just off Venezuela.
Samaroo’s relatives continue to maintain his innocence, as they say they cry daily, not knowing what has happened to him. Relatives rubbished claims that he was involved in narco-trafficking.
Responding to questions by Guardian Media, his family insisted, “Rishi was everything to us!”
“He was always there when you need him. He always willing to help. Anyone who knows Rishi would say the same thing.”
The 41-year-old father of three boys from El Socorro was reportedly on a vessel with friend Chad “Charpo” Joseph of Las Cuevas, bound for Trinidad, when the boat was obliterated during a drone strike authorised by US officials. Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Sean Sobers said the Government had no knowledge that Samaroo and Joseph were killed. He advised the families to file a missing persons report with the police.
Joseph’s family claimed he and Samaroo were among those killed when the US military destroyed their boat, which was alleged to have been transporting drug traffickers with an illegal haul of narcotics.
The particular strike at that time was the fifth by the US in its offensive against alleged narco-traffickers in the Southern Caribbean.
On November 1, relatives of both men filed a missing persons report with the T&T Police Service (TTPS)–in the hopes that it would prompt local law enforcement to investigate and confirm the identities of those killed.
Joseph’s relatives held a memorial service in his honour on October 22 at the St Michael’s RC Church in Las Cuevas.
Yesterday, Samaroo’s family said they had not received any feedback from the police. “It’s been hard not knowing what really happened to our brother.”
“It’s been extremely hard on our mom. She can’t eat or sleep. She cries all the time ... our sisters and brother as well.”
Upset over the continued vilification of Samaroo’s character, the family went on, “We have said before the US could have dealt with this differently. They could have stopped these boats and searched them. You don’t just go around blowing up boats, killing innocent people.”
They begged, “What about these people family? We have been left with so many questions.”
Pressed to say how Samaroo’s boys were coping with the loss, one relative tearfully asked, “What can we say to these boys?”
The family said the country and world have continued to spread false rumours about both Samaroo and Joseph, without sparing a thought for the men’s families and how hurtful and damaging the unfounded rumours were proving to be for them.
