Petro's lawyer takes on the defense of the family of the Colombian fisherman "murdered" by the U.S.

Bogotá.- Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced on Monday that his lawyer has taken on the legal defense of the family of Alejandro Carranza, a fisherman from the city of Santa Marta, "victim of the American assassination" in one of the U.S. attacks against boats that allegedly transported drugs in the Caribbean Sea. "My lawyer Dan Kovalik has initiated the legal defense of the Carranza family, victims of the US assassination of Alejandro Carranza, the fisherman from Santa Marta killed by a missile fired at his boat in the Caribbean and poor in solidarity," Petro wrote on X. The president added that "the State's legal agency, whose priority should be the defense of the victims of violence in Colombia, must convene a commission of Colombian lawyers to investigate the crimes in the Caribbean Sea." In another publication, he reiterated his accusation against the United States of carrying out "a systematic murder, which is a crime against humanity," in the 20 attacks in the Caribbean and the Pacific announced by the White House since August, under the pretext of combating drug trafficking, in which more than 80 people have died. «I believe that whether traveling by canoe as in the past, the peoples of the Caribbean must gather by areas in assembly to unite and act», he pointed out.

The tension between the United States and Colombia

The Colombian government identified Carranza, a "poor" fisherman from the Caribbean city of Santa Marta, as one of the victims of the American bombing on September 16th. In recent months, Petro has raised his tone against his American counterpart, Donald Trump, over differences in immigration policy, the fight against drugs, and Washington's support for Israel. Tensions escalated at the end of September, when the U.S. decided to revoke Petro's visa and removed Colombia —considered the world's largest producer of cocaine— from the list of countries that cooperated in the fight against drug trafficking in the last year. The Trump administration also included the Colombian president and several of his associates on the list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), known as the 'Clinton List,' for their alleged links to drug trafficking.