Colombian President Gustavo Petro has demanded criminal proceedings against Donald Trump over a series of deadly strikes on boats in the Caribbean, insisting the passengers were poor young men rather than members of a notorious gang.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, Petro condemned three attacks this month, which the White House has defended as operations against drug traffickers. He accused the former president of criminalising poverty and migration.

He said: ‘Criminal proceedings must be opened against those officials, who are from the U.S., even if it includes the highest-ranking official who gave the order: President Trump.’ 

He added that passengers killed in the strikes were not members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang, as claimed by the Trump administration after the first attack.

Petro said the passengers ‘were simply poor young people from Latin America who had no other option.’

Later in an interview with the BBC, he called the strikes an ‘act of tyranny’ and questioned the US’ methods. 

‘Why launch a missile if you could simply stop the boat and arrest the crew,’ he asked. That’s what one would call murder.’

He added: ‘We have a long history of collaborating with American agencies and other agencies of carrying out maritime seizures of cocaine,” he said. “No one has ever died before. There is no need to kill anyone.’

Colombia has condemned  a series of deadly strikes on boats in the Caribbean, insisting the passengers were poor young men rather than members of a notorious gang

This was the third vessel that was attacked by the US. Colombia’s president insisted that it was not carrying drug traffickers 

Petro’s remarks at the UN came just after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced his government is preparing constitutional decrees to defend the country in the event of an ‘attack’ from US forces.

Few details of the strikes have been made public. The first, on September 2, killed 11 people according to Washington. 

Officials said that the vessel and another targeted on September 16 had departed from Venezuela. 

Three people died in the second strike, while a third boat was hit on Friday, leaving another three dead.

The Trump administration has defended the escalation as vital to combat drug smuggling into the US but has not explained how the boats’ cargo was assessed or how passengers were linked to criminal groups. 

National security officials later told Congress the first vessel was fired on after it changed course and appeared to head back to shore.

‘They said that the missiles in the Caribbean were used to stop drug trafficking. That is a lie stated here in this very rostrum,’ Petro declared, in what appeared to be a direct response to Trump’s earlier speech. 

‘Was it really necessary to bomb unarmed, poor young people in the Caribbean?’

Colombia’s president Gustavo Petro speaking at the UN General Assembly. He demanded criminal proceedings against Donald Trump over the strikes 

Maduro has accused Washington of using drug allegations as cover for a military operation designed to topple his government.

Meanwhile, members of the Democratic Party have questioned the Trump administration over the legality of the strikes, which have been described as extrajudicial executions by the UN.

In the interview, Petro claimed that the US leader was humiliating his people and insisted that countries like his will not ‘bow down to the king.’ 

Trump and Petro have traded barbs in recent months. In a presidential memorandum, where Washington decertified Colombia for what it says was a failure to meet its anti-drug commitments, Trump said: ‘The failure of Colombia to meet its drug control obligations over the past year rests solely with its political leadership.’

Petro hit out at the US decision saying: ‘This is a deep insult to a society that has spilled the most blood so that the United States and Europe consume less cocaine, and obviously an insult to my own life

The strained relationship between the two leaders has been seen as a threat to the prospect of their countries remaining allies. 

Colombia has received billions of dollars in aid from the US since the Clinton presidency. 

After his return to the White House earlier this year, Trump toughened his stance on illegal migration from Latin America and said he would clamp down on drugs coming to the US from the region. 

Trump boarding his presidential plane in New Jersey on September 14. He has defended the strikes as has defended as operations against drug traffickers

He also designated several drug-trafficking syndicates as terrorist organisations. 

In recent weeks, Washington has strengthened its presence in the southern Caribbean, deploying additional warships to the region alongside thousands of Marines and sailors. 

Petro, Colombia’s first left-wing president, restored diplomatic ties with Venezuela after taking office in 2022.