Trump extends military pressure in Colombia

WashingtonDonald Trump has expanded the military pressure that had so far been concentrated on Venezuela to Colombia. The United States extended it on Wednesday. The war on drugs in the Pacific, near the Colombian coast, where the Pentagon shot down two alleged "narcolanches" and killed five people.The operation coincides with the latest clash between the US president and his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, whom he accused over the weekend of being a "drug kingpin." Petro had publicly denounced Washington for the "extrajudicial killings" it has been carrying out in the Caribbean Sea over the past month and a half under the pretext of fighting drug trafficking. On Wednesday afternoon, before confirming the second bombing of a ship in the Pacific, Trump threatened the Colombian leader, calling him a "prick": "[Petro] is doing a lot of drugs," he said, warning that "he'll be careful enough to monitor what he does, or we'll take action." This Thursday, during the White House press conference, spokesperson Karoline Leavitt emphasized that Petro's government "is doing nothing to de-escalate the situation."

Amid the escalating use of military force outside the country's borders, Trump ruled out Thursday the need to present a request to declare war on drug trafficking at the meeting scheduled for Congress to report on the administration's actions. "I don't think we necessarily ask for a declaration of war. I think we'll just kill the people who bring drugs into our country. Okay? We'll kill them," the president said during a roundtable discussion on cartels. The authority to declare war on a country rests with Congress, and while the president has the discretion to take military action, the ongoing attacks on alleged drug gangs are not backed by any authority. Juanita Goebertus, director of the Americas division of Human Rights Watch, recalled Wednesday that "whether they are drug traffickers or not, there is no armed conflict that authorizes such a use of force." Trump's statement also contrasts with the internal notification sent to lawmakers during the investigation into the first attack in September, which informed them that the country is now "in an armed conflict" with drug trafficking.

So far, there have been nine military attacks against alleged drug gangs; seven have taken place in the Caribbean Sea and the last two in the waters of the Eastern Pacific. In total, 37 people have died from attacks by the U.S. military under the accusation—without evidence or trial—of being drug traffickers. "We recognize the vessel almost immediately. It's pretty unusual to see someone with a fishing pole and five motors on the back of the boat. You don't have to go fishing," Trump explained Wednesday, adding, "We'll hit them hard when [the alleged drug traffickers] come to the ground. But they don't experience it. But they haven't experienced it. We have to." Families of some of the victims have already denounced that their loved ones are not drug traffickers, but fishermen.

Later, Petro responded to Trump, calling his attacks "slander." "I will always be against genocide and assassinations by those in power in the Caribbean," he said, also referring to Palestine. Petro led a pro-Palestinian protest in September at the UN General Assembly, for which the United States revoked his visa. In another post on X, the Colombian president called the attacks "a murder" and accused Washington of using this war on drug trafficking as a cover for a pressure campaign in Latin America: "Now they think that by weakening the democratic movement in Colombia, they will have easier access to Venezuelan oil."