Colombia seeks mediation with U.S. over boat strikes

Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Thursday asked Qatar to mediate between the United States and the countries, including his own, that border the Caribbean. He wanted to change what he characterized as an American policy of launching missiles at young Caribbean people, he said.

Petro made the request a day after saying that the Trump administration’s latest lethal strike on a drug boat in the Caribbean likely killed Colombian citizens. Petro characterized the United States’ actions as aggression that risked opening a war with Latin American and Caribbean countries. America wanted to start a war for oil, not stop drug smuggling, he said.

The most recent strike killed four men known to U.S. intelligence to be drug traffickers, according to U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

Petro said he would speak to European Union leaders at the Global Gateway Forum in Brussels, which began on Thursday, about his concerns. The world should stop the United States from further strikes on suspected drug boats, he said.

How did the U.S. government respond? The White House said it looked forward to Petro retracting his claims, which it characterized as baseless. The United States remained committed to cooperation with Colombia on regional stability, it said, according to the BBC.

The Senate on Wednesday evening rejected a war powers resolution that could have blocked Trump from authorizing further boat strikes.

The Trump administration recently sent 10,000 troops to the Caribbean region, mostly to Puerto Rico, The New York Times reported on Wednesday. The paper also reported that Qatar had already offered to mediate in the Caribbean, and that the U.S. government rejected that offer.

Dig deeper: Read Carolina Lumetta’s story on the Senate’s war powers vote.