'It's murder': At UN, Colombia calls for 'criminal process' against Trump over US strikes on drug boats

Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Tuesday, while addressing the UN General Assembly, called for a “criminal process” against Donald Trump over US strikes on suspected drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean.

Petro said unarmed “poor young people” were killed in the strikes, which Washington said targeted drug operations off Venezuela’s coast, whose president it accuses of running a cartel.

He described the strikes as “murder” and said they were carried out “only for television.”

In recent weeks, the US has sunk at least three vessels, killing at least 17 people. Washington claimed those on board were Venezuelan drug traffickers but has provided no evidence, sparking outrage over the legality of the attacks.

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At least a dozen people died in the strikes, which UN experts have called “extrajudicial execution.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump dismissed concerns over the killings, saying he would crush drug smugglers. “To every terrorist thug smuggling poisonous drugs into the United States of America, please be warned that we will blow you out of existence,” he told the assembly.

Trump has deployed eight warships and a submarine to the southern Caribbean, the largest US military presence in the region for years, raising fears in Venezuela of a possible invasion.

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Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whom Trump previously tried to oust during his first term, accused the US of seeking regime change. Thousands of Venezuelans have joined a civilian militia after Maduro urged citizens to defend the cash-strapped country against the US “threat.”

Petro, whose country is the world’s largest cocaine producer, said he believes some of those killed in the strikes were Colombian. He argued that Trump should be investigated for targeting “young people who simply wanted to escape poverty” while many cartel leaders remain in the United States.

“A criminal process must be initiated against those officials who are from the United States. This includes the senior official who gave the order, President Trump,” Petro said.

Last week, the Trump administration decertified Colombia as a partner in the fight against drugs but stopped short of economic sanctions. Once close allies, relations have cooled under Petro, Colombia’s first-ever leftist president.