US President Donald Trump and Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Wednesday traded angry threats as the US announced strikes on two alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Pacific Ocean that left five people dead.
Trump branded Petro a “thug” and suggested he was a drug trafficker leading his country to ruin, prompting the leftist leader to vow: “I will defend myself legally with American lawyers.”
The US president also said vital military aid to Bogota had been cut and warned Petro — a sharp critic of the strikes — to “watch it,” while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the Colombian leader a “lunatic.”
Photo: AFP
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced two strikes on boats in the Pacific — one on Wednesday and another the day before — in social media posts showing the vessels engulfed in flames.
“Just as al-Qaeda waged war on our homeland, these cartels are waging war on our border and our people. There will be no refuge or forgiveness — only justice,” he wrote.
The strikes, which Hegseth said were carried out in international waters, bring the total number of such attacks to at least nine, with 37 people dead, US figures showed.
Until now the strikes had only taken place in the Caribbean.
The origin of the targeted vessels — eight boats and one semi-submersible — has not been disclosed, although some were destroyed off Venezuela’s coast.
At least one came from Trinidad and Tobago, another from Colombia, families of those killed said.
Washington has deployed stealth warplanes and US Navy ships as part of what it calls counter-narcotics efforts, but has yet to release evidence that its targets were drug smugglers.
The Pentagon told the US Congress that the US is in “armed conflict” with drug cartels, designating them as terrorist groups and describing suspected smugglers as “unlawful combatants.”
Experts say the summary killings are illegal even if they target confirmed traffickers.
Regional tensions have flared, with Colombia recalling its ambassador to Washington and Caracas accusing the US of plotting to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who on Wednesday said his country has 5,000 Russian portable surface-to-air missiles to counter US forces.
“Under no circumstances can one justify that kind of threats and accusations that have no basis whatsoever,” Colombian Ambassador Daniel Garcia-Pena said after being recalled.
“There are elements that are unacceptable,” he said, visibly alarmed after being told what Trump had said minutes before.
“At stake here is a historic relationship of more than 200 years that benefits both the United States and Colombia,” he said.
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