US Strikes Another "Drug Boat" in the Caribbean, Colombia-US Feud Heats Up, More... (10/21/25)

For at least the sixth time in as many weeks, the US has blown an alleged boat carrying drugs out of the water in the Caribbean, a Colombian family says the strikes killed one of their members, and more.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro is confronting the US over its drug boat attacks. (Creative Commons)

Foreign Policy

US Forces Strike Yet Another "Drug Boat" in Caribbean, With Survivors This Time. In the sixth known lethal attack by US forces against small boats in the Caribbean Sea near Venezuela, the military last Thursday sunk another alleged drug trafficking boat, killing an unspecified number of people. But for the first time in these attacks, there were survivors, a Colombian and an Ecuadorian.

Rather than imprison the two as unlawful combatant narco-terrorists, as the Trump administration is wont to portray the victims of its murderous strikes, or detain them to face criminal charges in the US, the US has instead released them to their own countries. That move allows the administration to avoid having to face judicial scrutiny over its attacks on the alleged drug boats, which are of dubious legality under both US and international law.

In announcing the attack last Friday, President Trump offered no details or evidence but said the US had attacked a "submarine" that was "loaded up" with drugs. "This was not an innocent group of people," he said.

The strikes come as the US engages in a massive buildup of military assets in the Caribbean and appear to be an increasingly threadbare pretext for ramping up pressure or potentially engaging in a "regime change" operation against the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Last week, President Trump also announced he had authorized CIA covert operations inside Venezuela. The authoritarian leftist leader has been indicted on US drug charges, and the Trump administration accused him of leading a Venezuelan drug trafficking organization, the Cartel de los soles.

The administration has attempted to justify the killings of criminal suspects on the highs seas by claiming the US is in "armed conflict" with Latin American drug cartels responsible for "poisoning" Americans. It has named some of those groups as "narco-terrorist" organization, allowing it to claim the people crewing those boats are unlawful enemy combatants.

US Killed Colombian Fisherman in "Drug Boat" Attack, Family Says. The family of Colombian fisherman Alejandro Carranza has told the Colombian TV network RTVC that he was killed in a US military strike after falsely accusing him of being a drug trafficker.

Audenis Manjarres said he cousin went fishing on September 14 and never came home. "He said goodbye on Sunday and now we don’t know anything about him," said Manjarres.

But two days later, President Trump released a video of a typical Colombian fishing boat, claiming that "these narcoterrorists from Venezuela were in International Waters transporting illegal narcotics (A DEADLY WEAPON POISONING AMERICAN!) headed to the U.S. These extremely violent drug trafficking cartels POSE A THREAT to U.S. National Security, Foreign Policy, and vital U.S. Interests."

Manjarres said the video suggested that her cousin and his unidentified companion had engine trouble, and "he was there checking the broken engines and they bombed him like that. It's unfair," Manjarres told RTVC.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro reacted angrily, saying the "US destroyed a fisherman family in the city that will host the Latin America and Europe summit."

"The United States has invaded our national territory, firing a missile to kill a humble fisherman, destroying his family and his children," Petro continued. "This is Bolívar's homeland, and they are murdering his children with bombs. The United States has violated Colombia’s national territory and murdered an honest, hardworking Colombian citizen. Let Bolívar's sword be raised! We are waiting for explanations from the US Government," said the president.

Trump to Punish Colombia as Feud over "Drug Boat" Attacks Intensifies. President Trump said Sunday that the US will impose tariffs on Colombian imports and cut assistance to the country because Colombian President Gustavo Petro "does nothing to stop" the drug trade. The move is the latest in an escalating confrontation between the two leaders.

Petro, a former leftist guerrilla, is a long and loud critic of the American-led global war on drugs and just last month chastised the US on US soil for supporting Israel's war in Gaza. He also urged American soldiers to "don't point your rifles at humanity" and "disobey the orders of Trump." The Trump administration then revoked his visa.

On Sunday, Trump posted on social media that Petro was "an illegal drug leader" who is "low rated and very unpopular." Then, in language reminiscent of a mob boss, Trump warned that "better close up" drug operations "or the United States will close them up for him, and it won't be done nicely."

He also accused Petro of lese majeste, saying the Colombian leader had "a fresh mouth" toward America, and complaining that the drug trade continues "despite large scale payments and subsidies from the USA that are nothing more than a long term rip off of America." "AS OF TODAY, THESE PAYMENTS, OR ANY OTHER FORM OF PAYMENT, OR SUBSIDIES, WILL NO LONGER BE MADE TO COLOMBIA," he added.

Later Sunday, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that Colombia is a "drug manufacturing machine" that has "no fight against drugs" and "a lunatic" for a president.

The Colombian Foreign Ministry called Trump's statement a "direct threat to national sovereignty by proposing an illegal intervention in Colombian territory." And Colombian Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said Colombia "has used all its capability and also lost men and women fighting drug trafficking."

Petro also responded, defending his country's decades-long fight against the cocaine trade, which, despite billions of dollars in US anti-drug and counterinsurgency assistance over the years, is the world's largest coca and cocaine producer. While Petro has continued the battle against the drug trade, he has also been conciliatory instead of punitive toward coca growing farmers.

"Trying to promote peace in Colombia is not being a drug trafficker," Petro wrote. He also accused Trump of being "rude and ignorant toward Colombia."

Ties between the US and Colombia are now increasingly frayed, despite the decades of cooperation between the two countries, and the administration's latest moves have analyst's scratching their heads.

"It is befuddling and profoundly unwise of the United States to alienate its strongest military partner in Latin America at a moment when tension between Washington and Venezuela are at its highest point in recent years," said Elizabeth Dickinson, senior analyst for the Andes region at International Crisis Group.

"Wisdom is being thrown out the window, with really catastrophic effects," she added, noting that Trump slashed aid to Colombia as part of the destruction of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) earlier this year. Further cuts could undermine military cooperation and undercut the Colombian military's fight against resurgent rebel groups and drug traffickers, she said.

"If that is cut, we will see a strategic loss of capability for the Colombian military and police at precisely the moment when they're confronting the greatest security crisis in Colombia for over a decade," she said.