COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT ACCUSES US OF BOMBING COLOMBIAN VESSEL NEAR VENEZUELA . (PHOTO).

 Colombian president accuses US of bombing Colombian vessel near Venezuela 

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has accused the United States of bombing a Colombian vessel carrying Colombian citizens during its recent military operations targeting alleged drug smugglers near Venezuela. The accusation comes amid a series of U.S. air and naval strikes in the Caribbean Sea that the Trump administration has described as efforts to eliminate “narco-terrorists.” However, the U.S. has not publicly identified any of the individuals killed in the operations, raising growing international concern over the legality and transparency of the strikes.

In a post on X, Petro said that “a new war zone has opened up: the Caribbean,” claiming that the most recent vessel targeted by the U.S. military was Colombian. “Evidence shows that the last boat bombed was Colombian, with Colombian citizens inside. I hope their families come forward and file a complaint,” he wrote. Petro went on to allege that the campaign was not about stopping drug trafficking but rather about “a war for oil,” warning that “the aggression is against all of Latin America and the Caribbean.” The Colombian leader provided no evidence to substantiate his claim, and neither the Colombian embassy in Washington nor the Pentagon has issued a response.

Petro’s remarks come at a time of rising tension between Bogotá and Washington. Once one of the United States’ strongest allies in Latin America, Colombia’s relationship with Washington has become increasingly strained under Petro’s leftist government, which has drawn closer to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro amid his confrontation with the U.S. It remains unclear whether the boat Petro referenced was one of the four previously announced strikes by the Pentagon or an unreported incident. Each of the known strikes has resulted in multiple deaths, though the White House has withheld the identities of those killed.

The U.S. has maintained that its growing military presence off Venezuela’s coast is part of a drug interdiction campaign, but President Trump and senior officials have made clear that another objective is the removal of Maduro, who faces a $50 million U.S. bounty. During a recent congressional hearing, Attorney General Pam Bondi declined to say whether her department had offered any legal guidance on the strikes, deepening questions about the scope and justification of the administration’s actions in the region.