The Colombian President has strongly condemned the US strikes on suspected cartel boats in the Caribbean Sea after the Pentagon announced a new military offensive to fight drug traffickers.
The alleged feud between Gustavo Petro, President of Colombia, and US President Donald Trump has escalated in recent months, especially after the Colombian president urged the US military to revolt against the US administration.
Petro vehemently criticised Trump, saying he is a “barbarian” who “wants to frighten us”.
Petro acknowledged that while some of the 20 boats struck by the US military were linked with a drug cartel, not all of them were being operated by the drug mafia.
He opposed Trump’s Secretary of War’s repeated statements suggesting they carried out strikes on Narco terrorists only.
Also Read: Colombia to stop intelligence sharing with US over boat strikes
“Maybe or maybe not. We do not know,” he said, when asked whether he knew about drug cartels ferrying drugs in the boats, adding “According to due process, the civilised treatment of people, they should be seized and detained and not killed without warning”.
Petro, in fact, described the Colombian victims as “poor boatmen” hired by cartels. “Then, when one of those missiles arrives, it kills that boatman. It doesn’t kill the drug trafficker,” he said.
The US imposed sanctions on Gustavo last month after Trump called him a “drug lord”. In response, Colombia restricted intelligence sharing with the US this week.
The US has hit at least 20 boats since September, killing 80 people. The US Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, confirmed on Friday the launch of Operation Southern Spear against “narco-terrorists” in the region.
As the situation between the US, Colombia, and Venezuela evolves in the coming days, the world waits and watches.
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