Colombian President Gustavo Petro at the United Nations on September 23, 2025

During the Tuesday session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York City, one Latin American leader is calling for President Donald Trump to be held criminally accountable for his repeated bombings of boats in the Caribbean Sea.

Agence France-Presse reported Tuesday that Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused Trump of killing "poor young people" on several boats in international waters, noting that he believed some of those killed were Colombian citizens. While Trump has insisted (without providing evidence) that those killed were drug traffickers, Petro said they were just "young people who simply wanted to escape poverty."

"A criminal process must be initiated against those officials who are from the United States. This includes the senior official who gave the order, President Trump," Petro said.

Last week, Trump announced the military had blown up a third boat in international waters that he said was "trafficking illicit narcotics," and that the boat was "transiting along a known narcotrafficking passage enroute to poison Americans." It was the second such bombing in two weeks, and the third strike of the month. He defended the strikes during his Tuesday speech to the UNGA.

"To every terrorist thug smuggling poisonous drugs into the United States of America, please be warned that we will blow you out of existence," Trump said.

Typically, the U.S. Coast Guard will intercept boats that it suspects are smuggling drugs into the United States, while also seizing the cargo and apprehending those on board to stand trial on charges of drug trafficking. Retired Judge Advocate General Rachel VanLandingham called the strikes "deeply troubling" in a September interview on CNN.

The AFP observed that Petro is the country's first-ever leftist leader, and has taken a starkly different approach to American-Colombian relations with his UNGA speech. The outlet also reported that Colombia is the chief manufacturer of the world's cocaine. According to the Wall Street Journal, a glut of Colombian cocaine has been making its way into the U.S. since the Trump administration reoriented law enforcement resources to fentanyl response and immigration, making cocaine remarkably cheaper compared to recent years.

Click here to read the AFP's full report.