Published 09/24/2025 13:46 | Edited 25/09/2025 13:44
In a speech at the 80th UN General Assembly, Colombian President Gustavo Petro made an unprecedented request: that the international body will open “criminal proceedings” against US President Donald Trump. The direct prosecution refers to Washington’s military attacks against vessels in the Caribbean-allegedly linked to drug trafficking-which resulted in the death of at least 14 people, as recognized by the US government itself.
Petro spared no words: “Criminal proceedings must be opened against these US employees, even if this includes the highest level employee that gave the order: President Trump.”
According to the Colombian leader, in front of the world leaders, the victims were not traffickers, but “poor young people from Latin America who had no other option,” no weapons to defend themselves. He accuses Washington of transforming poverty and migration into missile crimes.
The Colombian leader also contested the version that passengers would be members of the Aragua Tren criminal group, as the Trump administration sustained after the first attack. “It really needed to bombard poor and unarmed young people in the Caribbean?” He asked.
Trump’s military strategy in the Caribbean
The attacks cited by Petro are part of a visible military climb. In recent months, the US has mobilized eight war ships in the region, justifying the action as an offensive against drug trafficking – especially linked to Nicolás Maduro’s Venezuela, a constant target of Trump threats.
- September 2: First attack, 11 dead;
- September 16: Second attack, 3 dead;
- September 20: Third attack, 3 dead.
The White House did not detail how it identified the illicit load or the alleged binding of passengers to criminal groups. For Petro, the narrative is false: “They said that the missiles in the Caribbean were used to wage drug trafficking. It is a lie stated here, in this same podium.”
Caracas denounces an attempt to “change regime” to control oil and natural resources. The previous Saturday, Venezuela organized military exercises with civilians to prepare against a possible intervention. Maduro, in tune with Petro, accused Trump of using drug trafficking as a pretext.
Genocide in Gaza and the critique of US complicity
Petro expanded his attack on the US government by relating the Caribbean bombing to Trump’s policy in the Middle East. He denounced that the US became “Genocide in Gaza’s accomplices” and defended the creation of an international peace -armed international force to protect the Palestinians. It also called on countries from Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America to unite against the systematic violation of human rights.
“Trump not only let missiles fall against young people in the Caribbean. (…) It allows them to launch missiles against children, youth, women and the elderly in Gaza.
The Colombian Response: Data versus missiles
In response to his government’s “offspring” by Washington, Petro countered with numbers:
- 2023-2024: Greater Cocaine Seizure in Colombian history;
- 700+ heads from drug trafficking extradited for US and Europe;
- 40% reduction in coca crops compared to the previous government.
He pointed out that, unlike the US, Colombia did not need “a single missile” to combat trafficking, prioritizing voluntary substitution of crops and international cooperation.
“Fentanil is produced in the United States industrial apparatus. Narcotics live elsewhere, and it is not in Latin America.”
The silence of the US and the geopolitics of drug trafficking
The direct shock between Trump and Petro puts bilateral relations in check and projects a new tension on Latin America. The Colombian leader, who mocked his status as a “demonstrific president” by Washington, reaffirmed that the war on drugs is used as an instrument of political domination.
While Petro spoke, US representatives left the plenary – gesture read as refusal to dialogue. The Colombian President still accused Trump of being advised by “allied cocaine mafia politicians” in Colombia. “I don’t know if Trump knows that his foreign policy for Colombia, Venezuela and the Caribbean is advised by Cocaine Mafia Allies,” he said, expanding the clash into Bogota’s own political scenario.
He also warned: “Anti -drug policy is not to stop cocaine that arrives in the United States; it is to master southern peoples.”
An announced divorce
Petro’s speech has marked one of the hardest criticism of a US president in decades. In relating attacks on the Caribbean, anti -drug policy and conflict in Gaza, the Colombian sought to frame Trump not only as a controversial ruler, but as an international head of state.
The posture highlights a realignment in the global south, in which Latin American leaders, such as Petro and Maduro, try to present themselves as a counterpoint to Washington’s interventionism. But it also reveals the risks of isolation from Colombia in the face of US military and economic pressure.
The clash exposes the rupture between the US security view and the Latin American social agenda. By criminalizing Trump before the UN, Petro not only challenges the impunity of powers, but puts Colombia at the center of a battle for a new multilateralism – where the life of “poor young people” is worth more than a drug -fighting rhetoric.
While Trump threatens “incalculable consequences” to Venezuela, Latin America seems willing to respond in his own voice. Petro’s message echoes beyond the plenary: the war on drugs cannot be war for the poor.
Source: vermelho.org.br
