VENEZUELA’S ambassador to the United Nations has condemned a recent United States strike on a small boat in Caribbean waters that killed six people, calling it “a new set of extrajudicial executions.”

Samuel Moncada called on Thursday for the UN security council to investigate what he called a “series of assassinations,” noting there have been five lethal attacks and 27 reported deaths since strikes in the Caribbean began last month. The bombings have targeted what US officials say are suspected drug traffickers.

Among those believed killed in the latest strike, which took place on Tuesday, are two fishermen from Trinidad and Tobago, who Mr Moncada referenced in his speech.

As he spoke at the UN on Thursday, people in the sleepy fishing town of Las Cuevas in northern Trinidad were mourning the disappearance of Chad Joseph. 

His relatives believe he was killed in the strike, although they offered no other evidence that he was aboard the boat that was hit.

“People are crying. Why is Donald Trump destroying families?” Afisha Clement, Joseph’s cousin, told reporters.

She said Joseph had moved to Venezuela six months ago and was working on farms in hopes of earning more money.

He had boarded a boat bound for Trinidad on Tuesday and was expected to arrive on Wednesday, Clement said.

But no-one has heard from him since then.

At UN headquarters, Ambassador Moncada held up a newspaper front page detailing the lives of the two men from Trinidad.

“There is a killer prowling the Caribbean,” Ambassador Moncada said. 

“People from different countries … are suffering the effects of these massacres.”

Mr Moncada said: “There is no justification at all. 

“They are fabricating a war.”

The administration of US President Donald Trump has said it considers alleged drug traffickers as unlawful combatants who must be met with military force.