BOGOTÁ: Colombia’s president has accused Washington of violating his country’s sovereignty and killing a fisherman.
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 aimed at choking the flow of drugs from Latin America to the United States.
Washington claims its operations have dealt a decisive blow to drug trafficking without providing evidence about those killed.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro stated that US government officials committed murder and violated sovereignty in Colombian territorial waters.
Petro identified fisherman Alejandro Carranza as having no ties to drug traffickers and working only as a fisherman.
Carranza was reportedly killed in a September strike by US forces on his boat while fishing in the Caribbean.
Experts confirm that such summary killings remain illegal even when targeting confirmed narcotics traffickers.
Petro noted the Colombian boat was adrift with its distress signal activated during the strike.
The Colombian president declared they await explanations from the US government regarding the incident.
Trump announced the United States was sending two suspected drug traffickers back to Ecuador and Colombia.
This followed a military strike on their alleged drug-smuggling submarine in the Caribbean that killed two others.
Trump celebrated destroying a large drug-carrying submarine navigating toward the United States on a narcotrafficking route.
He claimed the vessel carried fentanyl and other drugs with two terrorists killed and two survivors returned.
Petro confirmed the Colombian suspect had been repatriated and would face prosecution according to law.
The 34-year-old Colombian arrived in serious condition with brain trauma and required ventilator support.
Interior Minister Armando Benedetti described the suspect as sedated and drugged upon return.
At least six vessels have been targeted by US strikes in the Caribbean since September.
Venezuela has been alleged as the origin point for some of these targeted vessels.
Washington has not revealed the departure point of the alleged drug-smuggling submarine.
Semi-submersibles built in clandestine jungle shipyards have long transported cocaine from South America.
These vessels typically move cocaine from Colombia to Central America or Mexico via the Pacific Ocean.
Petro’s government has repeatedly criticized the US military campaign against narcoterrorists.
The Colombian president previously called for criminal proceedings against Trump over the strikes at the United Nations. – AFP
