Trump attacks Petro and says US will end ‘payments and subsidies’ to Colombia for drug production

The American President, Donald Trump, attacked Colombian Gustavo Petro on Sunday and stated that the US will end ‘payments and subsidies’ to Colombia for drug production. A day earlier, Petro accused the United States of violating Colombian waters and killing a fisherman amidst their military campaign in the Caribbean against drug trafficking. Colombian reaction to the US offensive: In the General Assembly, Petro calls on the UN to open ‘criminal processes’ against Trump for attacks in the Caribbean. ‘President Gustavo Petro of Colombia is a drug trafficking leader who strongly encourages the mass production of drugs, in large and small fields, throughout Colombia. This has by far become Colombia’s biggest business, and Petro does nothing to stop it, despite large-scale payments and subsidies from the US, which are nothing more than a long-term fraud against America. AS OF TODAY, THESE PAYMENTS, OR ANY OTHER FORM OF PAYMENT OR SUBSIDIES, WILL NO LONGER BE MADE TO COLOMBIA,’ Trump declared in a post on his social media platform. ‘The goal of this drug production is the sale of large quantities of the product in the United States, causing death, destruction, and chaos. Petro, a poorly rated and very unpopular leader, with a foul mouth towards the US, better immediately shut down these death camps, or the US will shut them down for him, and it will not be done gently. Thank you for your attention to this matter,’ the Republican concluded. Last month, Washington announced that it had decertified Colombia as an ally in the fight against drugs, a decision that could cost Bogotá hundreds of millions of dollars in US military support. Trump’s offensive on Sunday comes shortly after Petro raised the tone regarding the US, once again condemning American actions on the Caribbean coast, close to Venezuela. ‘US government officials have committed murder and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters. Fisherman Alejandro Carranza had no ties to drug trafficking, and his daily activity was fishing,’ said the leftist president. ‘The Colombian boat was adrift and had a distress signal on because an engine was broken. We await explanations from the American government,’ Petro added. Carranza is said to have died in one of the US attacks in mid-September while fishing in the Colombian Caribbean, according to testimony from a relative shared by the president. ‘Alejandro Carranza is a fisherman; we were raised in fishing families… it’s not fair that they bombarded him like that. An innocent man going out to earn his daily bread,’ said Audenis Manjarres, a relative of the victim, in an interview with the public television station RTVC Noticias, shared by the president. Manjarres claims to have recognized Carranza’s boat in videos from September 15, circulated by international media about the military attack at sea, and that the last time he spoke to him was the day before at 5am (local time). The family is from the coastal city of Santa Marta, in the Colombian Caribbean. Petro’s leftist government rejects the American military incursion in the Caribbean, near Venezuelan waters, and recently requested the UN to open a criminal process against Trump for ordering the attack on these vessels, where, according to him, fishermen and young poor people died. Previously, Petro stated that he received the detained Colombian who survived the attack on a submarine in the Caribbean allegedly transporting drugs, which left two crew members dead. In total, the US Navy has killed at least 27 alleged drug traffickers in about six attacks on vessels since early September.