Colombia's President Gustavo Petro delivers a speech during a ceremony to destroy war material in Puerto Asis, Colombia on October 15, 2025. DAVID SALAZAR / AFP
Colombia's president accused Washington on Saturday, October 19, of violating his country's sovereignty and killing a fisherman, shortly after US leader Donald Trump confirmed that US forces carried out another strike in his military campaign against "narcoterrorists." Trump has waged an unprecedented military campaign that he says is aimed at choking the flow of drugs from Latin America to the United States. Washington says its operations have dealt a decisive blow to drug trafficking, but it has provided no evidence that the people killed – at least 27 so far – were drug smugglers.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on X that "US government officials have committed murder and violated our sovereignty in our territorial waters. Fisherman Alejandro Carranza had no ties to drug traffickers and his daily activity was fishing." Carranza was reportedly killed in a September strike by US forces on his boat while he was fishing the Caribbean, according to video testimony of his family members shared by the president on X.
Experts say such summary killings are illegal even if they target confirmed narcotics traffickers. "The Colombian boat was adrift and had its distress signal on," Petro said, referring to the strike that killed Carranza. "We await explanations from the US government."
