Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused the United States of committing “murder” following the attack that targeted a ship in Colombian territorial waters last September.
In a post on social media, Petro accused the United States of violating his country’s sovereignty and killing a Colombian fisherman.
“The Colombian boat was veering off course and I sent a distress signal due to an engine failure” when it collided with it, he said in a post on X. He added: “We are awaiting clarifications from the American government.”
It comes after President Donald Trump said the US struck a “drug-carrying submarine” on Thursday, killing two people.
Trump wrote on social media that US intelligence had confirmed that the ship was “largely loaded with fentanyl and other illegal drugs.”
This attack is at least the sixth American attack on ships in the Caribbean Sea in recent weeks. This is the first time that survivors have been reported.
Writing about an earlier attack in September, Pedro wrote on X on Saturday: “US government officials committed murder and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters.
“The fisherman, Alejandro Carranza, had nothing to do with the drug trade and his daily activity was fishing. The Colombian boat was veering off course and sent a distress signal due to engine failure.”
Alejandro Carranza was reportedly killed on September 15, when US forces allegedly shot at his boat while he was fishing in the Caribbean.
Trump has defended the ongoing boat attacks, saying they are aimed at stopping the flow of drugs from Latin America to the United States, but his government has not provided evidence or details about the identity of the ships or those on board.
UN-appointed human rights experts described the US strikes as “extrajudicial executions.”
At least 27 people were killed in the five previous boat attacks in the waters off Venezuela, according to figures released by the US administration.
Trump wrote on his platform, Truth Social, on Friday that the submarine targeted in the recent attack was “specially designed to transport massive amounts of drugs.”
“This was not an innocent group of people. I don’t know many people who have submarines, and this was an attack on a submarine loaded with drugs,” he said, adding that no US military personnel were injured.
The US President also said that the two people who survived would be returned to their countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia.
They were transferred to a US Navy ship, an informed source told CBS News, the BBC’s partner in the US.
In recent weeks, Trump has intensified threats against Venezuela’s leadership over allegations that the country is sending drugs to the United States. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused Trump of trying to make the South American country an “American colony.”
Trump had previously told reporters that he had allowed the CIA to conduct secret operations in Venezuela, and that he was considering launching attacks on Venezuelan territory.
Drug submarines have become a popular means of transporting drugs as they can go largely undetected and can sink after delivery. They are often homemade and built using fiberglass and plywood.
The United States, as well as other coastal nations, have previously intercepted some of these submarines.