Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Tuesday demanded a criminal probe into President Donald Trump and other administration officials over this month’s lethal military strikes on boats that the White House claims targeted drug traffickers. Petro condemned the three deadly attacks in his address at the U.N. General Assembly.
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Call for criminal investigation
“Criminal proceedings must be opened against those officials who are from the U.S., even if it includes the highest-ranking official who gave the order: President Trump,” Petro said the military action did not target members of Tren de Aragua, as the Trump administration asserts.
Petro said that even if the vessels were carrying drugs as the White House claims, the boats’ occupants “were not drug traffickers, they were simply poor young people from Latin America who had no other option.”
On the heels of Maduro’s announcement
Colombia’s president’s remarks follow Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s announcement that his regime is working on a number of constitutional decrees to protect the nation’s sovereignty if the U.S. should attack. Maduro alleges that the U.S. is using drug trafficking claims in an attempt to overthrow his government.
Petro resumed his nation’s diplomatic relations with Venezuela in 2022, following his victory in Colombia’s presidential election.
Details on deadly boat strikes
Details on the lethal boat strikes are scarce. The Trump administration said the first strike occurred on Sept. 2 and killed 11 people who had left Venezuela, as well as another boat that had set out to sea from the country’s shores in mid-September.
The second strike resulted in three deaths. A third strike from the U.S. military killed another three people on Sept. 19, who the Trump administration said were involved in the transportation of illicit drugs and linked to a terrorist organization. Dominican officials say that the speedboat was headed toward their country with the alleged intention of transporting the narcotics to the U.S.
U.S. intelligence told congressional lawmakers that the first boat targeted was fired upon several times after it changed direction and appeared to be heading back to shore.
Petro says Trump’s claim ‘is a lie’
“They said that the missiles in the Caribbean were used to stop drug trafficking. That is a lie stated here in this very rostrum,” Petro said. “Was it really necessary to bomb unarmed, poor young people in the Caribbean?”
