The United States President Donald Trump has accused his Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro of facilitating drug production smuggled into the US, prompting a strong response from Bogota.
The Colombian president, in response, has accused the United States of violating the sovereignty of the country while carrying out strikes on fishermen’s boats.
Trump said that his country will cut aid to Colombia because the South American leader “does nothing to stop” drug production, US President Donald Trump said Sunday.
His post on Truth Social said, “The purpose of this drug production is the sale of massive amounts of product into the United States, causing death, destruction, and havoc.”
Trump warned Colombian President Gustavo Petro to “stop the drug operation or else the United States will shut them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.”
Trump went further and called Petro an “illegal drug leader” and confirmed that the US was no longer going to send aid to the country. Relations between Bogota and Washington have deteriorated over the past few months.
Over the ongoing anti-drug cartel operations in the Caribbean. Responding late on Saturday, Petro had accused the United States of violating his nation’s sovereignty and killing a fisherman.
“US government officials have committed a murder and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters,” Petro said in a statement on X.
He asked the United States to explain its actions, stating that “We await explanations from the US government,” Petro added. The strike on Thursday was the sixth such operation in the Caribbean waters on Narco boats this year. The Trump administration says that 27 people have been killed in the strikes.
