Trump says they were “narco-terrorists.” Colombia says it was a fishing boat. Trump has offered no evidence other than his say-so. Colombia had the audacity to complain. How dare they, Trump says.

President Gustavo Petro of Colombia accused the United States of murdering an innocent fisherman in an attack on a boat that the American authorities claimed had been carrying illicit drugs, prompting President Trump to declare on Sunday that he would slash assistance to Colombia, one of Washington’s top aid recipients in Latin America, and impose new tariffs on the country’s goods.

That Trump believes he can murder at will is bad enough, although for the most part the boats he’s been blowing up are from Venezuela, and everybody hates Venezuelan dictator Maduro, who should not be confused with Argentinian President Javier Milei, to whom Trump promised $40 billion (up from $20 billion) in aid provided he gets re-elected. Trump likes Milei, who likes Trump back.

But Colombia?

“U.S. government officials have committed a murder and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters,” Mr. Petro wrote on social media. He said the man killed in the mid-September attack, Alejandro Carranza, was a “lifelong fisherman” whose boat had experienced damage and was adrift, probably in Colombian waters, at the time of the attack. His description of Mr. Carranza and his boat could not be immediately confirmed.

Is President Petro right? Who knows? It’s not as if anyone can interrogate Carranza or search his boat because it was blown up.

Mr. Trump responded by accusing Mr. Petro of not doing enough to curb the production of illegal drugs, calling him an “illegal drug dealer” with “a fresh mouth toward America.” Mr. Trump also said that the United States would halt aid payments to Colombia, which has long ranked among the largest recipients worldwide of U.S. counternarcotics assistance. He later told reporters on Air Force One that he would announce new tariffs on Colombian goods on Monday.

The aid provided Colombia was for the purpose of eradicating Colombian cartels and the narcotics trade. Coffee isn’t the only thing coming out of Colombia to the United States. Some might view it as ironic that Trump’s purported rationalization for cutting aid to stop drugs from Colombia is that Colombia isn’t doing enough to stop drugs. Others would call it idiotic, but then, that fails to take into account Trump’s calling Colombia’s president an “illegal drug dealer,” which is always good for foreign relations and to get the president of a foreign nation to serve American interests.

But worse than being a drug dealer, Petro has “a fresh mouth toward America,” which certainly explains Trump’s cutting of aid and imposition of tariffs. After all, what good are tariffs if not to silence other nations whose citizens are murdered by Trump’s administration and then complain about it?

Then again, Petro has been a thorn in Trump’s side all along.

In January, just days after Mr. Trump came into office, he threatened to impose sky-high tariffs on Colombia when Mr. Petro moved to block Mr. Trump’s use of military aircraft to deport thousands of migrants to Colombia.

The United States also revoked Mr. Petro’s visa during the United Nations General Assembly in September, after he called for American soldiers to disobey Mr. Trump at a pro-Palestinian rally in New York.

Among the many things that Trump doesn’t like is smaller countries not paying homage to daddy. Even though it’s very much in America’s self-interest to provide aid to Colombia, the world’s largest producer of cocaine, to combat the drug trade, the very blight that Trump uses to justify high sea murder. There’s American interests and then there’s Trump interests.

Now that Petro has complained about blowing up its fishing boat, the targets will no longer be limited to Venezuelan boats.

Soon after Mr. Trump issued his call to halt aid to Colombia, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced yet another strike on a vessel, which Mr. Hegseth claimed was connected to a Colombian rebel group, the National Liberation Army. Without providing evidence for his claims, Mr. Hegseth said the boat, which was attacked on Friday, had been carrying narcotics.

Well, if Hegseth says so, can anyone doubt him? Besides, it’s still not as if anyone can search the boat for drugs or interrogate the people on the boat about their actions. After all, they’re Colombian and now they’re dead. Even if the president of Colombia isn’t okay with its citizens being murdered, Trump is, and isn’t that all that really matters? And if Trump can’t punish Petro for his insolence by imposing tariffs and cutting aid, why bother to be president at all?

Update: This was posted on the DHS twitter account. Correction, this is not an official DHS twitter account, but a MAGA DHS fan account. Apologies

🚨Update: Columbian President claims one of the Narco boats destroyed by the US Naval Task Force was ‘just a poor Columbian fisherman.’ Does this look like a poor fishing boat?? It looks like he had tons of bait (cocaine, attracts lots of fish)! Columbian President is a liar!! pic.twitter.com/rK8LFaZRlC

— US Homeland Security News (@defense_civil25) October 20, 2025

Well then.