“UNACCEPTABLE”
Not less than one got here from Trinidad and Tobago, one other from Colombia, households of these killed informed AFP.
Washington has deployed stealth warplanes and Navy ships as a part of what it calls counter-narcotics efforts, however has but to launch proof that its targets have been drug smugglers.
The Pentagon informed Congress the USA is in “armed battle” with Latin American drug cartels, designating them as terrorist teams and describing suspected smugglers as “illegal combatants”.
Specialists say the abstract killings are unlawful even when they aim confirmed traffickers.
Regional tensions have flared, with Colombia recalling its ambassador to Washington and Venezuela accusing the USA of plotting to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro, who mentioned Wednesday that his nation has 5,000 Russian man-portable surface-to-air missiles to counter US forces.
Colombia is the world’s prime cocaine producer, however has labored for many years alongside the USA to curb manufacturing, which is managed by a variety of well-funded paramilitary, cartel and guerrilla teams.
However relations have soured markedly since Trump and Petro have taken energy, with the feud intensifying in current weeks over the Republican president’s lethal anti-drug marketing campaign.
“Not at all can one justify that form of threats and accusations that haven’t any foundation in any respect,” Colombian ambassador Daniel Garcia-Pena informed AFP after being recalled to Bogota for consultations.
“There are parts which might be unacceptable,” he mentioned, visibly alarmed after being informed what Trump had mentioned minutes earlier than.
“We face a US authorities that’s making an attempt to alter the paradigm of its worldwide relations” Garcia-Pena added, “the place uncertainty sadly performs an important position”.
“At stake here’s a historic relationship of greater than 200 years that advantages each the USA and Colombia,” he mentioned.
