Colombia

Colombia’s leftist President Gustavo Petro has been outspoken in his condemnation of US military attacks on what the Trump administration claims are drug smuggling vessels in international waters. Petro describes the strikes as easy, but ineffective in addressing the gigantic problem of drug smuggling, and also illegal.

The Trump administration has announced at least 10 such attacks on vessels over the past two months, including two off Colombia’s Pacific coast this week. The most recent came overnight, when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the United States carried out “a lethal kinetic attack” against a ship he said was operated by the Tren de Aragua gang, “trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea.”

Hegseth said that “six male narcoterrorists were aboard the ship during the attack, which took place in international waters and was the first nighttime attack. All six terrorists were killed and no US forces were injured in this attack.”

Aside from announcing the attacks, the US military and the Trump administration have provided virtually no information about how they are being carried out, based on what intelligence, or who, specifically, has been killed.

In an exclusive conversation with News themezone, Petro said that some of those killed in the US attacks were innocent civilians and reiterated his accusation that the attacks violate international law.

The White House denies those allegations and President Trump has defended the attacks as a legitimate part of his fight against drug gangs.

When asked if he was willing to tone down his rhetoric in his war of words with Trump to find a diplomatic way to stop US attacks on ships, Petro insisted he was simply responding in kind to the US leader.

The DEA says that about 90% of the cocaine coming into the United States comes from Colombia, and President Trump has blamed Petro, saying he has failed to control the drug cartels operating in his country.

“I’ve been insulted,” he told News themezone. “And a lot, but the only thing I can do is be frank.”

“Colombia is a drug den,” President Trump said recently. “Right now you have a terrible leader. A bad guy, a thug, but they produce cocaine at levels we’ve never seen before.”

Trump is right to point out that cocaine production in Colombia has increased in recent years. But Petro said the issue should be approached as a collaborative effort, not unilateral sneak attacks. He said he would welcome Trump to his presidential palace for dialogue and remained adamant that Colombia received no warning about the U.S. attacks.

“We don’t even know where” they’re going to happen, he told News themezone. “Nothing. We don’t know if they had cocaine or not.”

Petro said that launching missiles at small boats carrying a few people is a war crime, and noted that at least 37 people had been killed in the US strikes, before Hegseth’s announcement on Friday that six more suspected “narcoterrorists” were attacked.

Petro does not call those killed in the boats traffickers, he says they are people who work for traffickers

“Killing company workers is easy,” he said. “But if you want to be effective, you have to capture the bosses of the company.”

He said important shipments should be targeted, not small smuggling ships.

This week, President Trump said his war on drugs could soon move from water to land, and on Thursday two long-range US B-1 bombers flew near Venezuela.

Petro told News themezone that he hoped no U.S. operations would cross Colombia’s borders and warned that any such move could lead to more violence by inspiring more people to join insurgent groups.

“I was an insurgent myself,” he said. “I’m not threatening, but anyone who reads the history of Colombia in two centuries will know that when farmers are attacked, they hide in the mountains and take up arms.”

“It’s better to talk,” he urged President Trump, who has threatened to suspend all US aid to Colombia.

Petro said that if that happens, his government will be able to cover the financing shortfalls, and he is not losing sleep over the Trump administration’s tariff threats either.