10 h. ago Colombian president accuses US of ‘executions’ in Caribbean and Pacific

Colombia’s leftist president on Thursday renewed his criticism of US military strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific, fuelling a row with US President Donald Trump that has shattered ties between the two nations. Gustavo Petro said Washington was “carrying out extrajudicial executions” that “violate international law” by striking alleged drug-trafficking boats. The Colombian government urged the US to halt the strikes, which have destroyed nine vessels and killed at least 37 people, according to...

Politics

10 h. ago Colombia’s Petro accuses Trump of ‘extrajudicial executions’ in boat strikes

Colombia’s leftist president ramped up denunciations of Donald Trump’s anti-drug air strikes and swatted aside US threats to freeze hundreds of millions of dollars in aid Thursday. Fuelling a spat that threatens to shatter ties between the long-allied nations, Gustavo Petro said: “Mr Trump has slandered me and insulted Colombia”. Petro accused Trump of “carrying out extrajudicial executions” that “violate international law” by striking alleged drug-trafficking boats. The US has destroyed nine...

Politics

55 h. ago Colombia court overturns Uribe’s conviction for bribery, witness tampering

An appeal court on Tuesday overturned the conviction of Colombian former president Alvaro Uribe for bribery and witness tampering for which he had been sentenced to 12 years of house arrest. Uribe, 73, has denied any wrongdoing. He was sentenced in August following a nearly six-month trial in which prosecutors presented evidence that he attempted to influence witnesses who accused the law-and-order leader of having links to a paramilitary group in the 1990s. The court on Tuesday said the...

Events

4 d. ago Trump calls Colombia’s Petro an ‘illegal drug dealer’, says he will slash US aid

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he would slash US funding to Colombia because the country’s leader “does nothing to stop” drug production, in what is the latest sign of friction between Washington and one of its closest allies in Latin America. In a social media post, Trump referred to Colombian President Gustavo Petro as “an illegal drug dealer” who is “low rated and very unpopular”. He warned that Petro “better close up” drug operations “or the United States will close them up for...

Events

4 d. ago Trump calls Colombia’s Petro an ‘illegal drug leader’, says he will slash US aid

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he would slash US funding to Colombia because the country’s leader “does nothing to stop” drug production, in what is the latest sign of friction between Washington and one of its closest allies in Latin America. In a social media post, Trump referred to Colombian President Gustavo Petro as “an illegal drug leader” who is “low rated and very unpopular”. He warned that Petro “better close up” drug operations “or the United States will close them up for...

Politics

5 d. ago US strike in Caribbean kills Colombian fisherman, stoking sovereignty row

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Saturday that the United States had violated Colombia’s sovereignty over its waters and killed a fisherman during its recent anti-drug trafficking military campaign in the Caribbean. “US government officials have committed murder and violated our sovereignty in our territorial waters. Fisherman Alejandro Carranza had no ties to drug traffickers and his daily activity was fishing,” the leftist leader said on social media. Carranza was reportedly killed in...

Events

2 w. ago US strike on boat in Caribbean may have killed Colombians, Petro says

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro said on Wednesday there were “signs” that Colombian citizens were killed in the last small boat attacked by the US military off the coast of Venezuela. “A new front in the war has opened: the Caribbean,” Petro wrote on the social platform X. “Signs show that the last bombed boat was Colombian with Colombian citizens aboard.” He did not provide any explanation for what those signs were. “I hope that their families come forward and report it,” he added. Neither...

Events

3 w. ago Colombia’s Petro fires own Beijing embassy team for ‘sabotaging’ China outreach

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has ordered the removal of diplomats from his country’s embassy in Beijing, accusing them of sabotaging relations with China as Bogota pivots sharply away from Washington. “There is a foreign ministry [here] that feels ashamed of engaging with China and sabotages relations. All those people have to go,” Petro told ministers on Tuesday. He said diplomats in Beijing had altered his schedule and cancelled meetings without authorisation when he visited the country...

Events