The president of ColombiaGustavo Petro, assured this Saturday that the United States violated the sovereignty of Colombian waters and murdered a fisherman in the middle of its military campaign against drug trafficking in the Caribbean.
“United States government officials have committed a murder and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters. Fisherman Alejandro Carranza had no ties to drug trafficking and his daily activity was fishing,” the president said in X.
Due to this fact, he also asked the Prosecutor’s Office to “grant immediate protection to the victim’s relatives and associate them, if they wish, with the victims of Trinidad Tobago to initiate legal actions in the world and in the US justice system.”
US government officials have committed murder and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters
The fisherman Alejandro Carranza had no ties to drug trafficking and his daily activity was fishing.
The Colombian boat was adrift and with the breakdown signal…
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) October 19, 2025
Alejandro Carranza died last Thursday during his fishing trip in the Colombian Caribbean, according to the testimony of a family member shared by Petro, according to AFP.
The Colombian government rejected the US military incursion into the Caribbean, near Venezuelan waters, where since August it has deployed ships and warplanes to stop drug trafficking from Latin America.
The Trump Administration has sunk at least six vessels in Caribbean waters since August, when it began a broad military deployment with the argument of combating drug trafficking near the coast of Venezuela, leaving nearly 30 dead, according to EFE.
Trump justified these operations by ensuring that his country is in an “armed conflict” against drug cartels.
Petro raises his tone
In recent months, Petro has raised his tone against Trump due to differences over immigration policy, the fight against drugs and US support for Israel.
These tensions worsened at the end of September, when the US decided to revoke his visa.
Colombian president will not attend the Summit of the Americas
The Colombian asked the United Nations to open criminal proceedings against Trump for giving the order to attack these boats in which, according to him, fishermen and poor young people have died.
During the opening of the eightieth session of the UN General Assembly, Petro argued that the war on drugs was actually a strategy of the powerful who “need violence to dominate Colombia and Latin America.”
