BOGATA (BBC) — Colombian President Gustavo Petro has accused the US of committing “murder” following a strike carried out on a boat in Colombian territorial waters in September.
In a social media post, Petro accused the US of violating his country’s sovereignty and killing a Colombian fisherman.
Posting on X, he said: “The Colombian boat was adrift and had its distress signal up due to an engine failure,” when it was struck. He added: “We await explanations from the US government.”
It comes after President Donald Trump said the US had struck a “drug-carrying submarine” on Thursday, killing two people.
Writing on social media, Trump said US intelligence confirmed the vessel was “loaded up with mostly Fentanyl, and other illegal narcotics”.
The US president later accused the Colombian president of being “an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields, all over Colombia”.
He said because the US offers “large scale payments and subsidies” and Petro “does nothing” to stop the drug production, the US will no longer offer “payment or subsidies” to Colombia.
The attack is at least the sixth US strike on ships in the Caribbean Sea in recent weeks. It is the first time survivors have been reported.
Writing about an earlier attack in September, Pedro wrote on X on Saturday that: “US government officials have committed a murder and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters.
“Fisherman Alejandro Carranza had no ties to the drug trade and his daily activity was fishing. The Colombian boat was adrift and had its distress signal up due to an engine failure.”
Alejandro Carranza was reportedly killed on 15 September when US forces allegedly fired on his boat while he was fishing the Caribbean.
Trump has defended the ongoing boat attacks, saying they are aimed at stemming the flow of drugs from Latin America into the US, but his government has not provided evidence or details about the identities of the vessels or those on board.
By BBC News
