Trump punishes Columbia after Petro accuses Washington of murdering fisherman

The confrontation stems from the U.S. military’s recent campaign to intercept vessels it suspects of drug trafficking. Since September, American forces have destroyed several boats in an operation President Trump has championed as a strike against “narcoterrorists”. 

According to President Petro, one of these strikes on September 16 resulted in the death of a Colombian citizen, Alejandro Carranza. In a social media post on Saturday, Petro identified Carranza as a “lifelong fisherman” whose boat was disabled with engine failure and had sent a distress signal.

“US government officials have committed murder and violated our sovereignty in our territorial waters,” Petro wrote on X. “Fisherman Alejandro Carranza had no ties to drug traffickers and his daily activity was fishing.” He stated that Colombia is awaiting an explanation from Washington.

The U.S. account of its operations presents a starkly different narrative. On Saturday, President Trump announced that a Colombian and an Ecuadorian national had been apprehended from a “drug-carrying submarine” and would be deported for prosecution. He stated that the U.S. had destroyed the vessel, killing two of the four “known narcoterrorists” on board.

The conflicting stories underscore the rising tensions in the region fuelled by a significant U.S. military deployment in the Caribbean, primarily aimed at intercepting drugs from Venezuela. Legal experts have raised concerns over the legality of such strikes, noting that international law prohibits militaries from targeting civilians who do not pose an immediate threat.

President Trump escalated the feud on Sunday, personally attacking President Petro and outlining economic penalties. He labeled Petro an “illegal drug dealer” who has not done enough to curb drug production and has a “fresh mouth toward America”. As a consequence, Trump declared the U.S. would slash aid to Colombia — a top recipient of American counternarcotics assistance — and impose new tariffs on Colombian goods.

The relationship between the two leaders has been fraught since the start of Trump's current term. Earlier confrontations include a threat from Trump to impose tariffs after Petro moved to block the use of U.S. military aircraft for migrant deportations. The rift deepened last month when the U.S. revoked Petro’s visa after he called on American soldiers to disobey Trump’s orders at a pro-Palestinian rally in New York.

The incident now threatens to fracture a longstanding strategic partnership, as the two allies offer irreconcilable accounts of a lethal event at sea.