{"id":267537,"date":"2026-02-18T19:20:53","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T23:20:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=267537"},"modified":"2026-02-18T19:26:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T23:26:00","slug":"fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/","title":{"rendered":"Fear Grips Fishermen After Deadly U.S Strikes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Fear is spreading across the Eastern Caribbean fishing community after a U.S. military strike destroyed a small vessel at sea on February 13, leaving three people dead.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Southern Command says the action was part of a counter-narcotics operation targeting what it described as traffickers. But in Saint Lucia and nearby islands, fishermen say the incident has created deep anxiety \u2014 with many now worried about being mistaken for drug boats while working traditional fishing grounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre confirmed that lives were lost and said authorities are still verifying details, including whether any Saint Lucians were among those killed.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Fishing leaders across the region are now calling for clearer safeguards, better communication, and stronger coordination to ensure legitimate fishermen are not caught in anti-drug operations at sea.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The incident comes amid an intensified U.S. maritime crackdown in Caribbean waters \u2014 raising broader questions about safety, transparency, and sovereignty in a region where the sea remains both a livelihood and a lifeline.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fear is spreading across the Eastern Caribbean fishing community after a U.S. military strike destroyed a small vessel at sea on February 13, leaving three people dead. U.S. Southern Command says the action was part of a counter-narcotics operation targeting what it described as traffickers. But in Saint Lucia and nearby islands, fishermen say the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":267539,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-267537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nFear Grips Fishermen After Deadly U.S Strikes - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fear Grips Fishermen After Deadly U.S Strikes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fear is spreading across the Eastern Caribbean fishing community after a U.S. military strike destroyed a small vessel at sea on February 13, leaving three people dead. U.S. Southern Command says the action was part of a counter-narcotics operation targeting what it described as traffickers. But in Saint Lucia and nearby islands, fishermen say the […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Antigua News Room\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-18T23:20:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-18T23:26:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/fishers.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Editor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5\"},\"headline\":\"Fear Grips Fishermen After Deadly U.S Strikes\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-18T23:20:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-18T23:26:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/\"},\"wordCount\":172,\"commentCount\":6,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1024\/h:768\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/fishers.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/\",\"name\":\"Fear Grips Fishermen After Deadly U.S Strikes - Antigua News Room\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1024\/h:768\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/fishers.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-18T23:20:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-18T23:26:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1024\/h:768\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/fishers.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1024\/h:768\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/fishers.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":768,\"caption\":\"Fishing Boats in Antigua and Barbuda\/ Photo Fisheries Division\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Fear Grips Fishermen After Deadly U.S Strikes\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/\",\"name\":\"Antigua News Room\",\"description\":\"News As It Happens\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Antigua Newsroom\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1080\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1584.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1080\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1584.jpeg\",\"width\":1260,\"height\":1260,\"caption\":\"Antigua Newsroom\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/AntiguaNewsRoom\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/antiguanewsroom\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5\",\"name\":\"Editor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96\",\"caption\":\"Editor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/author\/editor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fear Grips Fishermen After Deadly U.S Strikes - Antigua News Room","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Fear Grips Fishermen After Deadly U.S Strikes","og_description":"Fear is spreading across the Eastern Caribbean fishing community after a U.S. military strike destroyed a small vessel at sea on February 13, leaving three people dead. U.S. Southern Command says the action was part of a counter-narcotics operation targeting what it described as traffickers. But in Saint Lucia and nearby islands, fishermen say the […]","og_url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/","og_site_name":"Antigua News Room","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom","article_published_time":"2026-02-18T23:20:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-18T23:26:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/fishers.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Editor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AntiguaNewsRoom","twitter_site":"@AntiguaNewsRoom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Editor","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/"},"author":{"name":"Editor","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5"},"headline":"Fear Grips Fishermen After Deadly U.S Strikes","datePublished":"2026-02-18T23:20:53+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-18T23:26:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/"},"wordCount":172,"commentCount":6,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1024\/h:768\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/fishers.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/","url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/","name":"Fear Grips Fishermen After Deadly U.S Strikes - Antigua News Room","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1024\/h:768\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/fishers.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-18T23:20:53+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-18T23:26:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1024\/h:768\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/fishers.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1024\/h:768\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/fishers.jpg","width":1024,"height":768,"caption":"Fishing Boats in Antigua and Barbuda\/ Photo Fisheries Division"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/fear-grips-fishermen-after-deadly-u-s-strikes\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Fear Grips Fishermen After Deadly U.S Strikes"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/","name":"Antigua News Room","description":"News As It Happens","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization","name":"Antigua Newsroom","url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1080\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1584.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1080\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1584.jpeg","width":1260,"height":1260,"caption":"Antigua Newsroom"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom","https:\/\/x.com\/AntiguaNewsRoom","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/antiguanewsroom\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5","name":"Editor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96","caption":"Editor"},"url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/author\/editor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267537"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":267538,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267537\/revisions\/267538"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/267539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}