61 h. 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...

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61 h. 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

3 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...

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4 d. ago US military seizes survivors of strike on alleged drug vessel in Caribbean

The US military is holding two survivors aboard a Navy ship after rescuing them from a suspected drug vessel in the Caribbean hit by a US strike that killed two others, three sources familiar with the matter said on Friday. The disclosure, which has not been previously reported, raises the possibility that the survivors from Thursday’s strike are the first prisoners of war in a conflict declared by US President Donald Trump against a “narcoterrorist” threat he says is emanating from...

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5 d. ago US strikes on boats in Caribbean fuel speculation over missing fishermen

Venezuela’s ambassador to the United Nations has accused the US of killing innocent people in the Caribbean, citing local reports that two of the men in the latest boat bombing were Trinidadian fishermen. “People from different countries - Colombia, Trinidad, etc - are suffering the effects of these massacres,” ambassador Samuel Moncada told reporters at the UN on Thursday, while holding up the cover story of local Trinidadian newspaper Guardian on the deaths. The comments reflected Venezuela’s...

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7 d. ago Trump says US strike on another alleged drug boat off Venezuela kills 6

The United States struck another small boat accused of carrying drugs in the waters off Venezuela, killing six people, US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday. Those who died in the strike were aboard the vessel, and no US forces were harmed, the president said in a social media post. It was the fifth deadly strike in the Caribbean as Trump’s administration has asserted it was treating alleged drug traffickers as unlawful combatants who must be met with military force. US Defence Secretary...

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1 week 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...

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2 w. ago Hegseth says he has ‘every authorisation needed’ for Caribbean boat strikes

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said he has every authorisation needed for US military strikes on vessels just off the coast of Venezuela allegedly carrying illegal drugs. Hegseth was speaking in a Fox News interview broadcast on Sunday. The United States killed four people in a strike in the Caribbean Sea on Friday, at least the fourth such attack in recent weeks. “We have every authorisation needed. These are designated as foreign terrorist organisations,” Hegseth said in an interview on Fox...

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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...

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