Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Tuesday called for a criminal investigation against US President Donald Trump and other officials involved in this month`s deadly strikes on boats in the Caribbean that the White House has said were transporting drugs. Petro repudiated the three attacks in his speech at the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly during which he also accused Trump of criminalising poverty and migration.

`Criminal proceedings must be opened against those officials, who are from the U.S., even if it includes the highest-ranking official who gave the order: President Trump,` Petro said of the strikes, adding that boat passengers were not members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang as claimed by the Trump administration after the first attack.