{"id":55751,"date":"2025-10-19T19:11:24","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T03:11:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=55751"},"modified":"2025-10-19T19:11:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T03:11:24","slug":"trump-baselessly-calls-colombias-petro-drug-dealer-as-us-bombs-another-boat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2025\/10\/19\/trump-baselessly-calls-colombias-petro-drug-dealer-as-us-bombs-another-boat\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Baselessly Calls Colombia\u2019s Petro \u2018Drug Dealer\u2019 as US Bombs Another Boat"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/united-states\">United States<\/a> carried out another deadly attack on a boat it claimed was being used by a left-wing Colombian revolutionary group to transport drugs in the Caribbean Sea, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Sunday, hours after President <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/donald-trump\">Donald Trump<\/a> alleged without evidence that Columbia\u2019s president \u201cis an illegal drug dealer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hegseth said the strike, which took place on Friday, targeted \u201ca vessel affiliated with Ej\u00e9rcito de Liberaci\u00f3n Nacional (ELN), a designated terrorist organization.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/colombiareports.com\/eln\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ELN<\/a> is Colombia\u2019s last-standing far-left guerrilla group. Founded in 1964, the group fought to liberate <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/colombia\">Colombia<\/a> from longtime <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/right-wing\">right-wing<\/a> rule, end foreign influence \u2013 especially from the United States \u2013 and achieve <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/social-justice\">social justice<\/a> and equality for the poor. ELN has been accused of using proceeds from drug trafficking to fund its insurgency.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was traveling along a known narco-trafficking route, and was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics,\u201d Hegseth said without offering evidence. \u201cThere were three male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel during the strike \u2013 which was conducted in international waters. All three terrorists were killed and no US forces were harmed in this strike.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese cartels are the al-Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere, using violence, murder and terrorism to impose their will, threaten our national security, and poison our people,\u201d the defense secretary added. \u201cThe United States military will treat these organizations like the terrorists they are \u2013 they will be hunted, and killed, just like al-Qaeda.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">On October 17th, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with Ej\u00e9rcito de Liberaci\u00f3n Nacional (ELN), a Designated Terrorist Organization, that was operating in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility.<\/p>\n<p>The\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/1v7oR879LC\">pic.twitter.com\/1v7oR879LC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecWar\/status\/1979930208472912048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 19, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Hegseth\u2019s announcement followed a <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/115401182824973489\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">post<\/a> by Trump on his Truth Social network calling leftist Colombian President Gustavo Petro \u201can illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Trump offered no evidence to back his baseless claim. The US itself has a long history of involvement in the international drug <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/trade\">trade<\/a>, from American capitalists <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/society\/american-old-money-opium-trade-fortunes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">profiting immensely<\/a> from opium trafficking in the 19th century to the Central Intelligence Agency working with narcotrafficking anti-communist groups in <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/renincorp.org\/bookshelf\/politics-of-heroin-in-south.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Southeast Asia<\/a> and <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/nsarchive2.gwu.edu\/NSAEBB\/NSAEBB2\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Central America<\/a> during the <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/cold-war\">Cold War<\/a>, helping to fuel first the heroin and later crack cocaine epidemics in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>The US president further alleged that drugs have \u201cbecome the biggest business in Colombia, by far, and Petro does nothing to stop it, despite large scale payments and subsidies from the USA that are nothing more than a long-term rip off of America.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Trump added:<\/p>\n<p><em>AS OF TODAY, THESE PAYMENTS, OR ANY OTHER FORM OF PAYMENT, OR SUBSIDIES, WILL NO LONGER BE MADE TO COLOMBIA. The purpose of this drug production is the sale of massive amounts of product into the United States, causing death, destruction, and havoc. Petro, a low-rated and very unpopular leader, with a fresh mouth toward America, better close up these killing fields immediately, or the United States will close them up for him, and it won\u2019t be done nicely.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-petro-colombia-drugs-us-aid-c3955b2ce351737119920741178e0567\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">According to<\/a> <em>The Associated Press<\/em>, Colombia received an estimated $230 million in US aid for the <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/budget\">budget<\/a> year that ended on September 30.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has ordered attacks on at least seven alleged drug-running boats without providing concrete evidence to support his claims. At least 29 people have been killed in the attacks.<\/p>\n<p>In a series of posts on the <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/social-media\">social media<\/a> site X, Petro <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/petrogustavo\/status\/1979700160608206983\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> that \u201cUS government officials have committed a murder and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters,\u201d repeating <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/us-attack-on-boats-off-venezuela\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">claims<\/a> that some victims of the US strikes, including Thursday\u2019s, were fishermen.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"es\">La lancha del pescador de Santa Marta no era del ELN, era de una familia humilde, amante del mar y de ah\u00ed extra\u00eda sus alimentos.<\/p>\n<p>Qu\u00e9 le dice usted a esa familia, expl\u00edqueme porque usted ayud\u00f3 a asesinar un humilde pescador de Santa Marta, la tierra donde muri\u00f3 Bol\u00edvar, y de la\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Dd9D1aEqGK\">https:\/\/t.co\/Dd9D1aEqGK<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/petrogustavo\/status\/1979952036860113284?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 19, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI respect the history, culture, and people of the USA,\u201d Petro <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/petrogustavo\/status\/1979934703340617914\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote<\/a> in a subsequent post. \u201cThey are not my enemies, nor do I feel them as such. The problem is with Trump, not with the USA.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Refuting Trump\u2019s accusation that he has \u201cdone nothing to stop\u201d drug trafficking, Petro <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/petrogustavo\/status\/1979418442194121016\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">noted<\/a> that \u201cwe have reduced the coca leaf crop growth rate to almost 0%. In past governments, there were years with nearly 100% annual growth. Today, half of the total coca leaf crop area has crops that have been abandoned for three years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/trump-administration\">Trump administration<\/a> <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/2025\/10\/18\/detainees-drug-boat-us-venezuela-colombia-ecuador\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> Thursday that survivors of one recent strike, a Colombian and an Ecuadorean, would be repatriated to their respective countries, possibly as a way to skirt concerns over the legality of the attacks.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, Hegseth said that US Southern Command chief Adm. Alvin Holsey \u2013 who is overseeing the boat attacks \u2013 will step down at the end of the year. Holsey\u2019s resignation <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/10\/16\/us\/politics\/southern-command-head-stepping-down.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reportedly<\/a> stems from concerns over the strikes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Commander Alvin has resigned for refusing to be complicit in the murder of Caribbean civilians by US missiles deliberately launched against them from comfortable offices, I consider him a hero and a true officer of the armies of the Americas,\u201d Petro <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/petrogustavo\/status\/1979215831151091833\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> in response to the news. \u201cI said in <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/new-york\">New York<\/a>, on one of its streets, that I <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dJU_BUilpbA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">asked<\/a> the officers of the <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/us-military\">US military<\/a> forces not to aim their weapons at humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/gustavo-petro-un-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">revoked<\/a> Petro\u2019s US visa following his speech.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe that Commander Alvin has proven himself to be a man of worth by refusing to aim his weapons at humanity. Perhaps Commander Alvin does not know it, but he is a true officer of the armies of <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/washington\">Washington<\/a> and Bol\u00edvar,\u201d Petro added, referring to George Washington and the great South American liberator Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar.<\/p>\n<p>On his first day back in the <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/white-house\">White House<\/a> in January, Trump signed an <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/01\/designating-cartels-and-other-organizations-as-foreign-terrorist-organizations-and-specially-designated-global-terrorists\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">executive order<\/a> designating drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Last month, the president <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/trump-drug-cartel-war\" target=\"_self\">reportedly signed a secret order<\/a> directing the <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/pentagon\" target=\"_self\">Pentagon<\/a> to use military force to combat drug cartels abroad, sparking fears of renewed US aggression in a region that has <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.veteransforpeace.org\/files\/7815\/5130\/4069\/US_Acts_of_Aggression_in_Latin_America_Timeline.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">endured<\/a> well over 100 US attacks, invasions, occupations, and other interventions since the issuance of the dubious Monroe Doctrine in 1823.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has also deployed a small armada of naval warships off the coast of <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/venezuela\">Venezuela<\/a>, which has <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/venezuelanalysis.com\/analysis\/14263\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">endured<\/a> more than a century of Washington\u2019s imperialist meddling, <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/trump-bomb-venezuela-2674047728\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">raising fears<\/a> of yet another US war of choice and regime change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The United States carried out another deadly attack on a boat it claimed was being used by a left-wing Colombian revolutionary group to transport drugs in the Caribbean Sea, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Sunday, hours after President Donald Trump alleged without evidence that Columbia\u2019s president \u201cis an illegal drug dealer.\u201d Hegseth said the strike, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":372,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[806],"class_list":["post-55751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"0","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":"The leftist Colombian president retorted that \u201cUS government officials have committed a murder and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters.\u201d "},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/372"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55751"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55761,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55751\/revisions\/55761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55751"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=55751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}