Gustavo Petro said that the US president’s actions don’t help stop drug traffickers
Colombian President Gustavo Petro has denounced the US strikes on alleged cartel vessels in the Caribbean Sea as the Pentagon announced a new operation to fight drug traffickers.
Colombia has historically cooperated with the US on security matters, particularly in dealing with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government and fighting drug trafficking, although their policy alignment has recently shifted under Petro, a former M-19 Marxist guerrilla.
In an interview with NBC News, Petro did not mince words when criticizing US President Donald Trump. “He’s a barbarian,” Petro said in excerpts aired Thursday. “He wants to frighten us,” he added.
The Colombian president did not rule out that some of the vessels hit by the strikes were linked to cartels. “Maybe or maybe not. We do not know,” he said, adding that, “According to due process, the civilized treatment of people, they should be seized and detained.”
Petro described the victims as “poor boatmen” hired by cartels. “Then when one of those missiles arrives [it] kills that boatman. It doesn’t kill the drug trafficker,” he said. He previously said that at least some of the victims were ordinary fishermen not involved with organized crime.
The US imposed sanctions on Petro last month after Trump labeled him “a drug leader.” Colombia restricted intelligence-sharing with the US this week, although Interior Minister Armando Benedetti later clarified that Bogota would continue cooperating with US federal agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI.
The US has hit at least 20 boats since September, killing an estimated 80 people. US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Thursday the launch of Operation Southern Spear against “narcoterrorists” in the region.
CNN reported that as part of the operation, Trump had been briefed on target options in Venezuela; he has accused Maduro of helping cartels smuggle drugs into the US.
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