US strike in Caribbean kills Colombian fisherman, stoking sovereignty row

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Saturday that the United States had violated Colombia’s sovereignty over its waters and killed a fisherman during its recent anti-drug trafficking military campaign in the Caribbean.

“US government officials have committed murder and violated our sovereignty in our territorial waters. Fisherman Alejandro Carranza had no ties to drug traffickers and his daily activity was fishing,” the leftist leader said on social media.

Carranza was reportedly killed in a September strike by US forces on his boat while he was fishing in the Caribbean, according to video testimony of his family members shared by the president on social media.

“The Colombian boat was adrift and had its distress signal on,” Petro said. “We await explanations from the US government.”

Petro’s government has repeatedly criticised the US campaign. Last month, he called at the United Nations for criminal proceedings to be opened against US President Donald Trump over the strikes.

Trump said on Saturday the US was sending two suspected drug traffickers back to their native Ecuador and Colombia, after a military strike on their “drug-smuggling submarine” in the Caribbean that killed two others.