Name: Colombia calls for U.S. to halt strikes on drug boats
Uploaded: 2025-10-23T23:51:09.266Z
Duration: 4 min 27 s
Description: Colombia has asked the U.S. to stop attacking boats that the U.S. claims are trafficking drugs in the Pacific and the Caribbean. In a statement, the country urged the U.S. to respect international law and engage in diplomatic talks to address situations.

Colombia has asked the U.S. to stop attacking boats that the U.S. claims are trafficking drugs in the Pacific and the Caribbean. In a statement, the country urged the U.S. to respect international law and engage in diplomatic talks to address situations.

Bogotá

Colombia has formally asked the United States to cease military strikes on vessels suspected of drug trafficking in the Pacific and Caribbean regions. President Gustavo Petro stated that his government receives no prior or post-strike information from the U.S., and highlighted concerns about the impact on low-level workers, some of whom he described as fishermen.

Petro warned that any potential land strikes, particularly near the Venezuela-Colombia border, could escalate tensions and risk encouraging insurgency. While maintaining accusations of war crimes against the U.S. for these strikes, Petro also called for diplomatic dialogue and proposed alternative strategies for combating drug production, such as encouraging farmers to switch from coca crops to other products.

Colombia calls for U.S. to halt strikes on drug boats

As we've been reporting, Colombia has asked the U.S. to stop attacking alleged drug-trafficking vessels in the Pacific and the Caribbean. In a statement, the country urged the U.S. to respect international law and engage in diplomatic talks to address situations. For more, let's bring in CBS News correspondent Lilia Luciano. She's in Colombia, where she had an exclusive sit-down with the country's president, Gustavo Petro. Lilia, what did the president say about these strikes? Hey there, Lindsay. Well, the first thing that really struck me is that the president told me he gets no information about these strikes before or after. There doesn't seem to be any communication with the U.S. government, with the Department of Defense. In one case, he was telling me that there was one of the strikes where somebody was killed off of the Caribbean coast of Colombia, and it was the family of a person he calls a fisherman. He has been saying whether they're trafficking drugs or not, he still considers them just low-level workers in the drug trade, but he said it was the family of this fisherman who started gathering information, and then he relies on the intelligence of his Navy. I asked him, are you worried about what could be the repercussions of a land strike, especially in the border between Venezuela and Colombia? The Trump administration has been saying all along they are targeting the Venezuelan involvement in drug trade. So, of course, given that all these strikes, many of these strikes have happened off of the shore of Colombia, I asked him about a potential land strike, as President Trump had suggested some kind of land intervention. He said that would be a huge mistake. He said that the Colombian people historically, when they have been attacked in the past, in other wars and in other—hundreds of years ago, and over the last century, they rise. It was not—he said, I don't mean that as any kind of threat, but he says that that could encourage more insurgency, and that is something that people here in Colombia have been fighting for a very long time. This is a president that has been, as you know, in a war of words with President Trump. I will tell you, I noticed his rhetoric was a lot more tame than I expected, more tame than what we have seen in his previous tweets, but he still is calling those strikes war crimes. These are people who, whether they're traffickers or not, they don't have the defense to deal with a strike of this nature. And so, he still is accusing the United States of war crimes, but his rhetoric on Trump seems to be a little bit lower in tone. Do you think that that's because you're an American journalist and you had an exclusive sit-down with him? And also, where can people see more of your interview? Well, I—he talked to international media in a press conference earlier, and everything seemed to go along those lines, too. He didn't say a whole lot of inflammatory things about the president. He is very vehemently attacking the people he has called Nazis, the people he says are far-right-wing traffickers. He has had all kinds of accusations against the people who he says are advising President Trump. It's not Trump. It's the people advising him. And today, Secretary of State Marco Rubio did call Petro a lunatic. The administration has been saying that he is out of control. What he says is, look, I welcome the president of the United States to come here to this palace that is right behind me, to his presidential palace. He says that he invites dialogue. So I asked him, if you invite dialogue, why have you been accusing the U.S. of crimes? Why have you been insulting the president? He says, well, I have been insulting, but that he hopes that there can be a dialogue. And he does propose an alternative way of fighting drugs in Colombia in connection with the United States. It's not something that—I have studied this for many years—has worked in the past. It's something that he says that he has done very successfully, which is voluntarily convincing farmers to give up their coca crops and instead plant other products. That's what he's proposing to the United States. I don't see the Trump administration saying, OK, sure, let's just do that. OK. Liliana Luciano, thank you so much for bringing your reporting to us.

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