Colombia’s left-wing President Gustavo Petro has been outspoken in his condemnation of the U.S. military strikes on what the Trump administration says are drug smuggling boats in international waters. Petro calls the strikes easy but ineffective in tackling the mammoth problem of drug smuggling—and illegal to boot.

The Trump administration has announced at least 10 such strikes on boats during the past two months, including two off Colombia’s Pacific coast this week. The most recent came overnight, when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. carried out “a lethal kinetic strike” on a vessel he said was operated by the Tren de Aragua gang, “trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea.”

Hegseth said, “Six male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the strike, which was conducted in international waters and was the first strike at night. All six terrorists were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike.”

Aside from announcing the strikes, the U.S. military and the Trump administration have provided virtually no information about how they are carried out, based on what intelligence, or who specifically has been killed.

In an exclusive conversation with CBS News, Petro said some of those killed in the U.S. strikes have been innocent civilians. He reiterated his accusation that the attacks violate international law.

The White House denies those accusations, and President Trump has defended the strikes as a legitimate part of his fight against drug trafficking gangs.

Asked if he was ready to lower the rhetorical tone in his war of words with Mr. Trump and seek a diplomatic way of stopping the U.S. attacks on boats, Petro insisted that he was merely replying to the American leader in kind.

The Drug Enforcement Administration says about 90% of the cocaine that reaches the U.S. comes from Colombia. President Trump has blamed Petro, saying he’s failed to rein in drug cartels that operate in his country.

“They have insulted me,” he told CBS News. “And a lot, but all I can do is be frank. Colombia’s a drug den,” President Trump said recently. “You got a lousy leader over there right now. Bad guy, a thug, but they make cocaine at levels that we’ve never seen before.”

Mr. Trump is correct to note that cocaine production in Colombia has increased in recent years. But Petro said the issue should be addressed as a collaborative effort, not through unilateral sneak attacks.

He said he would welcome Mr. Trump to his presidential palace for a dialogue and was adamant that Colombia got no warning about the U.S. strikes.

“We don’t even know where they’re going to happen,” he told CBS News. “Nothing. We don’t know if they had or didn’t have cocaine.”

Petro said launching missiles at small boats carrying a few people is a war crime. He noted that at least 37 people had been killed in the U.S. strikes before Hegseth’s announcement on Friday that six more alleged “narco-terrorists” were struck.

Petro doesn’t call the people killed on the boats traffickers; he says they’re people who work for the traffickers. “Killing the business’ workers is easy,” he said. “But if you want to be effective, you have to capture the bosses of the business.”

He said major shipments should be targeted, not small smuggling boats.

This week, President Trump said his war on drugs could soon move from the water onto land. On Thursday, two long-range U.S. B-1 bombers flew near Venezuela.

Petro told CBS News that he hoped no U.S. operations would cross Colombia’s borders. He warned that any such move could lead to more violence by inspiring more people to join insurgency groups.

“I myself was an insurgent,” he said. “I am not threatening, but anyone who reads the history of Colombia in two centuries will know that when farmers are attacked, they head up to hide in the mountains and they take up arms. It’s better to talk instead,” he urged President Trump, who has threatened to halt all U.S. aid to Colombia.

Petro said if that happens, his government will be able to fill funding gaps, and he’s not losing sleep over the Trump administration’s tariff threats, either.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-drug-boat-strikes-colombia-president-petro-attacks-easy-but-illegal-ineffective/