Colombia's President Gustavo Petro has condemned recent US airstrikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea, describing the attacks as an "act of tyranny" and calling for criminal investigations if Colombians were killed.
The strikes, which reportedly claimed 17 lives since their launch earlier this month, have sparked debates over legality and human rights.
President Petro questioned the necessity of such lethal measures, asking, "Why launch a missile if you could simply stop the boat and arrest the crew? That's what one would call murder."
He insisted that stopping suspected drug smuggling operations should aim for "zero deaths," emphasizing that prior cooperation between Colombia and US authorities has never resulted in fatalities.
"We have a long history of collaborating with American agencies and other agencies of carrying out maritime seizures of cocaine," Petro said. "No one has ever died before. There is no need to kill anyone." He further argued that using excessive force breaches the principle of proportionality, stating, "if you use anything more than a pistol" it becomes unjustifiable.
The strikes have mainly targeted Venezuela’s waters, according to US authorities, though details about the missions, including who was killed, remain scarce.
Reports that the Tren de Aragua gang was involved in the first attack are disputed.
In Washington, Democratic lawmakers are pressing the White House to clarify the legality of these operations, with UN experts describing them as potential extrajudicial executions.
The White House defended the strikes, asserting that Trump was "prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country and to bring those responsible to justice.
" During his interview in New York, coinciding with the United Nations annual meeting, Petro also accused the Trump administration of humiliating Colombians and warned that South American nations would not "bow down to the king."
Since returning to office, Trump has taken a tougher stance on Latin America, escalating deportations and labeling certain gangs and cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
Pressed on whether his stance against the US risked isolating Colombia, Petro countered, "Trump had already insulted me during a presidential campaign, he called me a terrorist," insisting it was the US president’s policies that were isolating his country.