 "US forces destroy Colombian drug-smuggling vessel as Trump brands Petro ‘illegal drug leader’")
US forces attacked a drug-smuggling vessel on Friday, killing three people aboard, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Sunday. He alleged that the boat was linked to a Colombian guerrilla organisation.
”The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was traveling along a known narco-trafficking route, and was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics,” he said in a post on X.
Earlier today, US President Donald Trump on Sunday labelled Colombian President Gustavo Petro an “illegal drug leader” and said the United States would stop “large scale payments and subsidies” to Colombia.
Trump claimed that the country’s drug production fuels the sale of “massive amounts of product into the United States, causing death, destruction, and havoc,” in a post on Truth Social.
It is unclear which payments the president was referring to. Colombia was once among the top recipients of US aid in the Western Hemisphere, though funding was sharply reduced this year following the closure of USAID, America’s humanitarian assistance arm.
Relations between Bogota and Washington have been tense since Trump returned to the White House. Last month, the US revoked Petro’s visa after he attended a pro-Palestinian demonstration in New York and urged US soldiers to defy Trump’s orders.
Petro had pledged last year to curb coca cultivation through large-scale social and military interventions, but the strategy has produced limited results.
In September, Trump designated Colombia, along with Afghanistan, Bolivia, Burma, and Venezuela, as countries that “failed demonstrably” in meeting US counternarcotics requirements over the past year. He directly blamed Colombian political leadership for the shortfall in controlling drug production.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts”Petro … is an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs,” said Trump in his post on Sunday, saying U.S. payments and subsidies to Colombia were a rip-off.
”AS OF TODAY, THESE PAYMENTS, OR ANY OTHER FORM OF PAYMENT, OR SUBSIDIES, WILL NO LONGER BE MADE,” he wrote in capital letters.
With inputs from agencies
 "‘Putin will destroy you’: Trump tells Zelenskyy to accept Moscow’s terms to end the war")
 "Hamas to hand over 13th Israeli hostage body; both sides accuse each other of breaching Gaza truce")
 "Rising inflation and job worries heighten economic anxiety among US adults")
 "GRAP-2 curbs imposed in Delhi-NCR as air quality worsens ahead of Diwali")
 "‘Putin will destroy you’: Trump tells Zelenskyy to accept Moscow’s terms to end the war")
 "Hamas to hand over 13th Israeli hostage body; both sides accuse each other of breaching Gaza truce")
 "Rising inflation and job worries heighten economic anxiety among US adults")
 "GRAP-2 curbs imposed in Delhi-NCR as air quality worsens ahead of Diwali")
