Spanish
The President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, warned this Monday his American counterpart, Donald Trump, about the possibility of a "double failure" of Washington due to its hostile anti-drug policy in the Caribbean and the frontal attack against Venezuela, "to get cheap oil".
In his opinion, the U.S. strategy of combining "the so-called war on drugs" with "the real search for oil", through attacks against Venezuela, "is a double failure".
"The 'war on drugs' fails because it should never have been the domain of police and military, but of public health, and oil fails because if we continue on its greedy path, life ends," Petro wrote on social media.
Petro's words precede a tense day. The day before, the U.S. put on the table the possibility of imposing more tariffs against Colombia. The threat came after Trump accused his South American counterpart, without evidence, of being "a drug trafficking leader".
Escalation of tensions
The weekend's escalation reached unprecedented levels following a new U.S. attack in Caribbean waters. The event, which has become increasingly frequent since the North American deployment in the area, marked a turning point because this time there are survivors: one of Colombian nationality and another Ecuadorian. "The two surviving terrorists are being returned to their countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia, to be arrested and tried", published Trump on Truth Social, communicating that the North American country destroyed "a huge drug-trafficking submarine that was sailing towards the United States through a known drug trafficking route".Following the news, Petro wrote on social media: "We received the Colombian detained in the narco submarine, we are glad he is alive and will be processed according to the laws".
US lethal operations, which already total seven and have left at least 32 deceased, have been described by the Colombian president as "murders", since he considers that a disproportionate use of force is being made in alleged drug interdiction operations, which violates international law. Political analyst Ramón Jimeno highlights that Petro's attempt to reduce dependence on the U.S. and get closer to China and Russia bothers Donald Trump.
