Colombian President Gustavo Petro is calling on the U.S. to end strikes in the region against apparent drug-carrying vessels. CBS News' Lilia Luciano reports from Barranquilla, Colombia.

Barranquilla

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has publicly called for an end to United States military involvement in Latin America and the Caribbean, referencing a history of US interventions and recent military strikes on suspected drug boats in the region. Petro's comments come amid criticism of his approach to the war on drugs, with some accusing him of being too lenient towards guerrilla and organized crime groups.

Colombian authorities report ongoing efforts to combat drug trafficking, including recent seizures of large quantities of cocaine. Officials stress that their operations focus on surveillance, arrest, and prosecution of suspects, only resorting to lethal force if attacked, distinguishing their approach from that of foreign military interventions.

Colombian president calls for end of boat strikes near Venezuela

All right, Columbia's president is once again calling for the United States and military involvement in Latin America and the Caribbean in a social media post last night Gustavo Petro wrote in part Quote the long history of US invasions of Latin American and Caribbean countries must come to an end if we want a great America Which spans from Alaska to Patagonia the invasion must be prohibited This comes of course as the Trump administration faces questions over several military strikes on those suspected drug boats in the region as we've been Talking about so let's bring in CBS News national correspondent Lillia Luciano who is joining us live from Colombia Lillia you spoke to the Colombian Armada about these strikes. What are they saying? And what does this indicate about our relations our relationship our strategic relationship? with the Colombians Well Vlad on the strategic relationship with the Colombians I have to say that the United States was responsible decades ago for training and for providing the equipment that the Colombians used to Surveil to seize and in the past to stop even the drug production There's a lot of criticism over the way that President Petro is tackling the war on drugs They no longer fumigate the coca crops people here in Colombia and in the United States accused him of being too lenient With the guerrilla groups with the organized crime groups that are producing and trafficking these drugs That said President Petro as he told me when I sat with him exclusively in late October Does not believe and this is part of that that same line of thinking does not believe that the people who are on those boats Are the big bosses that he doesn't see them as terrorists. He sees them as the quote-unquote workers So I talked to the armada to understand exactly how hard they're going after these boats and Trafficking and production in general the person the admiral who oversees all of the Caribbean Wanted me to see the amount of drugs that they're seizing this week alone. They seized seven tons of cocaine We're talking about two hundred twenty million doses according to his estimate what he showed me yesterday was four point five tons That is about two hundred million dollars of cocaine and one seizure alone He says look, we're not letting these go these boats go, but we are following the law What we do is we surveil them to make sure that there are drugs on the boats We stop them on their tracks. They've shown me videos of these two seizures from this week They showed me the boat. The boat was full of 2,500 gallons of gasoline to make it all the way say to Central America, but they don't just kill them They stop them they prosecute them they arrest and sometimes those people end up Extradited and that is the big difference. Of course. I asked do you kill them sometimes and he says, of course if they fire at us We kill them That is a distinction a very important one. Indeed. Lilia Luciano for us reporting from Colombia. Thank you, my friend

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