Petro: "They say the missiles in the Caribbean were to stop drugs. Lie!"

The President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, condemned this Tuesday the extraterritorial policy of the Donald Trump administration in the U.S., and its active military activity in the waters of the Caribbean Sea, during his participation in the debates of the 80th General Assembly of the United Nations, held in New York (U.S.), headquarters of the international organization. At the beginning of his speech, the Colombian president highlighted that the actions of the U.S. in the Caribbean today bring barbarity to a global reality. In addition, he emphasized that what has been happening in Gaza for years, now turned into "genocide", also intends to impose itself on the Latin American region. You may be interested in: http://Venezuela evalúa declarar "estado de conmoción exterior" ante "agresiones" de EE.UU. In that sense, he maintained that the missiles launched by Washington in the Caribbean are not to stop drug trafficking and that such action is a "lie" to subdue Latin American countries in a supposed fight against international drug trafficking organizations. "They say the missiles in the Caribbean were to stop drugs, Lies!" said Petro, who added that perhaps the US President, Donald Trump, does not know that his foreign policy towards Colombia, Venezuela and the Caribbean, is advised by "Colombians who are political allies of the cocaine mafia." Petro also condemned the killings in the Caribbean against boats carrying civilians, in which at least 17 young people have already been counted as victims of the missiles launched by the U.S. in its supposed fight against drug trafficking. Regarding this, he highlighted that these people were unarmed and were exterminated just for being "poor." "The anti-drug policy is not to stop the cocaine that reaches the U.S., the anti-drug policy is to dominate the peoples of the South in general, it does not look at the drug, it looks at power and domination," he added. Petro also referred to the treatment of Latin American migrants, who are qualified as criminals without proof by Washington and locked up in "concentration camps", in the style of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany.

"They launch missiles where there is poverty"

"Drug traffickers all say, when the majority of drug traffickers are blond and blue-eyed, and they keep their huge fortunes in the world's largest banks and do not live in Bogota, nor in Caracas, nor in the Caribbean, nor in Gaza, but they live in Miami and are neighbors of the President of the USA, and they live in New York, in Paris, in Madrid and in Dubai, they live where there is luxury not poverty, but the missiles are thrown where there is poverty and not where there is luxury", Petro expressed. The Colombian president added that the U.S. argument that the so-called 'Tren de Aragua' is an international drug trafficking terrorist organization is false. "It's a lie that the 'Tren de Aragua' is a terrorist group, they are just common criminals in the form of a gang, inflated by the stupid idea of blocking Venezuela and taking its oil." He also expressed that "migrants are not criminals" and that there is no reason to take them to "concentration camps" after US authorities expel them from their territory "chained". "Migration is nothing but the product of the blockade of the poorest countries like Iran, or Iraq, or Cuba, or Venezuela. The economic blockade is nothing more than genocide."

#NoticiaW | “Es mentira que el Tren de Aragua es terrorista, solo son delincuentes comunes, agrandados por la estúpida idea de bloquear a Venezuela y quedarse con su petróleo”: dijo el presidente @petrogustavo ante la ONU. pic.twitter.com/DDFJA8G3qJ

— W Radio Colombia (@WRadioColombia) September 23, 2025

Condemnation of Israel's "genocide" of the Palestinian people 

The Colombian president also condemned "the genocide" against the Palestinian population and said that the international community, including the UN, are accomplices in the extermination of Gazans by Israel. In this regard, he pointed out that Trump is also complicit in this situation. "Trump doesn't talk about democracy, he doesn't talk about the climate crisis, he doesn't talk about life, he only threatens and kills and lets tens of thousands die ," Petro expressed, who highlighted that this is his last intervention in the General Assembly, the fourth as head of state. The leader asked the UN to work for the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and those responsible for the "genocide" in Palestine, to be captured and prosecuted for their crimes against humanity. Therefore, he urged the organization to stop the diplomacy that has not yielded results to global problems, but to take action to stop the slaughter in Gaza. "Palestine must be liberated," Petro expressed, who called on the international community to take up arms and form an international army to stop Israel from its warlike actions that no one has been able to stop so far. "The UN must begin its change by stopping the genocide in Gaza with the effectiveness of a Salvation Army of the world, voted by the United Nations Assembly and without veto." 

"Capital or Life"

Petro also warned that the historical moment that humanity is currently experiencing, based on the actions of the most powerful Western countries, where a "rich and racist society" that believes itself to be "the superior race" is privileged, is leading humanity "to the abyss of its own destruction". Petro indicated that the world must choose between ending the economic model of capital or facing the end of the planet. In this regard, he warned that the world is between "capital or life", between "greed or life", "barbarism or democracy", or "liberty or death", as the Liberator Simón Bolivar said. "It is a global revolution of the peoples that is needed to overcome the climate crisis, of the united peoples, of civilizations. It is a revolution of humanity to remain alive and free", added the Colombian president, who urged the UN to reform itself based on that vision of the unity of civilizations above States-Governments. He also denounced the imposition of economic blockades by the US against countries like Venezuela, an action he pointed out as a Washington policy to try to seize the natural resources of that South American country.

• This speech occurs amidst tensions with the U.S., after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a large military deployment in the Caribbean, under the alleged claim of the fight against drugs. Although there is no evidence, Washington claims to have destroyed three vessels and with a balance of 17 people dead. These actions are described as "murders" by Petro.
• Likewise, Petro criticized severely Washington's decision to decertify the South American country in its fight against drugs, which he considers a "colonial blackmail" due to its left-wing political stance.
• Petro's inaugural intervention, as a newly positioned president in office, in September 2022, left emblematic phrases such as: "I come from a country of bloodied beauty", with reference to the extensive internal armed conflict in the country, and "the war on drugs has failed", when talking about the joint anti-drug plans with the U.S., which only generated the resurgence of violence.