Colombia’s Petro slams US airstrikes as ‘act of tyranny’

Colombia’s President, Gustavo Petro, has condemned US airstrikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, describing them as an “act of tyranny” and calling for possible criminal charges against American officials if Colombians are among the dead.

Speaking in an interview with the BBC on Wednesday, Petro questioned why Washington chose lethal force over arrests.

“Why launch a missile if you could simply stop the boat and arrest the crew? That’s what one would call murder,” he said.

The strikes, ordered by President Donald Trump, have reportedly killed 17 people since the beginning of September. While Trump insists the operation is necessary to curb the flow of fentanyl and other narcotics into the US, critics — including Democratic lawmakers and UN experts — have raised concerns about potential violations of international human rights laws.

Petro, who argued that there should be “zero deaths” in maritime seizures, stressed that Colombia had a long history of working with US agencies to intercept cocaine without bloodshed.

He added that using missiles instead of restraint breached the principle of proportionality. “If you use anything more than a pistol, you violate that principle,” Petro said.

Although US officials claim the strikes have mostly targeted Venezuelan waters and alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang, details remain murky, with questions over who was killed and whether the intelligence was accurate.

The White House, in response to Petro’s criticism, defended Trump’s actions, insisting he was “prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country.”

Petro accused the Trump administration of humiliating Colombians, insisting Latin America would not “bow down to the king.” He also warned that it was Trump, not Colombia, who was isolating the US with his hardline foreign policies.

Trump, since returning to power in January, has escalated his rhetoric and policies across Latin America, designating cartels and armed groups as terrorist organisations, while deploying more US naval assets and Marines to the Caribbean.

“Trump had already insulted me during a presidential campaign — he called me a terrorist,” Petro recalled.