Topline
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. struck another boat on Friday, killing three men the Trump administration claimed were “narco-terrorists” and members of a Colombian militant group—he confirmed the attack just hours after President Donald Trump called Colombian President Gustavo Petro a “drug leader” and promised to cut off subsidies to the South American nation.
Trump called Colombian President Gustravo Petro a “drug leader” in a social media post earlier on Sunday.
AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
In a statement on social media posted on Sunday, Hegseth said the U.S. had targeted another boat on Friday associated with the Ejército de Liberación Nacional—a Colombian left-wing militant group considered a terrorist organization both by the United States and the South American nation.
Hegseth claimed the boat was traveling on a “known narco-trafficking route” and carrying large quantities of drugs.
In an earlier post on Truth Social, Trump accused Petro of “strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields,” claiming without offering further evidence drug production was the “biggest business” in the South American country.
The U.S. president said he would cut off subsidies to Colombia, as well as “any other form of payment” to the nation—although he did not specify exactly which payments he was referring to.
Trump also attacked Petro as an “unpopular leader, with a fresh mouth toward America.”
Key Background
Since September, the Trump administration has begun a campaign targeting and striking boats in the Caribbean it claims are being used by drug dealers to smuggle narcotics from South America. Most of these strikes have targeted vessels off the coast of Venezuela. The Trump administration moved to declare Venezuelan and Mexican drug cartels as “unlawful combatants” earlier this month. On Saturday, Trump said the United States was repatriating two survivors from one of the Caribbean strikes last week, including one Colombian national. Colombian officials identified the survivor as Jeison Obando Perez, 34, who Colombian Interior Minister Armando Benedetti said was on board a submersible. Perez “arrived with brain trauma, sedated, drugged, breathing with a ventilator,” Benedetti said in a post on social media, and would be prosecuted for drug trafficking after medical treatment.
How Has Petro Responded?
In response to increasing tensions between Petro’s government and the U.S., the Colombian leader accused the U.S. of killing another Colombian national in a strike in September. Petro identified the victim as Alejandro Carranza, who he claimed was a fisherman with “no ties to drug trafficking.” The president also claimed the boat was “drifting and had a distress signal on” due to engine problems, and accused U.S. officials of “murder” in a series of posts on social media. He continued to criticize the U.S. president on Sunday after Trump’s threat to cut off funding, insisting in another post he did not consider the U.S. his enemy. “The problem is with Trump, not with the US,” Petro wrote.
When Did the Feud Between Trump and Petro Start?
Petro was one of the Trump administration’s first international antagonists. Just days after Trump took office in January, Petro refused to accept planes full of Colombian migrants as the administration began its plans for mass deportations. The Trump administration responded by threatening 50% tariffs on Colombian imports, but the two governments eventually came to a deal after Colombia agreed to accept the deportees. Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in September, Petro criticized the Trump administration again for their campaign in the Caribbean, even calling for criminal investigations into officials as high up as the president himself. The Trump administration revoked Petro’s visa after he spoke at a pro-Palestinian demonstration in New York days later.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharyfolk/2025/10/19/us-strikes-friday-killed-three-colombians-hegseth-says-after-trump-calls-colombian-president-a-drug-leader/
