Colombian President Gustavo Petro said a boat recently bombed by the United States was “Colombian with Colombian citizens inside,” an allegation the White House called “baseless.”
The United States has struck at least four ships in the Caribbean in recent weeks, killing 21 people. The US government said the strikes in international waters targeted “drug traffickers”.
But it provided no evidence or details about who or what was on board, and the strikes were condemned in regional countries over fears they violated international law.
The US Senate on Wednesday rejected a measure that would have banned President Donald Trump from using military force against the ships.
Petro was responding to a post on
The Colombian president declared that “a new war scenario has opened: the Caribbean.”
Petro added that “indications show that the last bombed boat was Colombian and that it was carrying Colombian citizens.”
“I hope their families come forward and report this. There is no war on smuggling; there is a war for oil and it must be stopped by the whole world. The aggression is directed against all of Latin America and the Caribbean.”
Petro did not provide further details on the alleged identity of those on board. The United States has not commented on the identities of those killed in the strikes.
The White House said in a statement that it “looks forward to President Petro publicly retracting his baseless and reprehensible statement.”
He said that while the two countries had “political differences,” the United States remained “committed to cooperating closely on a range of shared priorities, including regional security and stability.”
Speaking at the European Global Gateway Forum in Brussels on Thursday, Petro said he had asked all Caribbean foreign ministers to meet over the strikes.
The United States says its strikes, which began on September 2, targeted ships off the coast of Venezuela that it said were carrying illegal drugs.
The measure considered by the Senate on Wednesday, which would have required Trump to seek congressional approval for the strikes, was rejected by a vote of 48-51.
It was introduced by Democratic Senators Schiff and Tim Kaine. The vote took place mainly on partisan lines.
Earlier this month, a leaked memo sent to Congress indicated that the United States now considered itself to be involved in a “non-international armed conflict.”
Presenting this as an active armed conflict is likely a way for the administration to justify the use of war powers, including killing “enemy combatants,” even if they pose no violent threat.
Trump has already designated numerous cartels, including in Mexico, Ecuador and Venezuela, as terrorist organizations, giving U.S. authorities more power in their response to these cartels.
