Colombia seeks criminal probe into Trump over deadly strikes on alleged drugs smugglers

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has demanded a criminal investigation against Donald Trump and other US officials involved in recent deadly airstrikes on boats in the Caribbean that Washington says were transporting drugs.

The US carried out fatal strikes against three alleged drug trafficking vessels this month, marking a significant escalation in the Republican administration's drive to combat the trafficking of narcotics from Latin America and the Caribbean.

Speaking at the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Petro condemned the attacks and also accused Trump of criminalising poverty and migration.

"Criminal proceedings must be opened against those officials, who are from the US, even if it includes the highest-ranking official who gave the order: President Trump," Petro said of the strikes.

Petro said that the boat passengers were not members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, contrary to the Trump administration's claim after the first attack.

If the vessels were carrying drugs as alleged by the US government, Petro said, their passengers "were not drug traffickers; they were simply poor young people from Latin America who had no other option."

Petro's speech came shortly after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced that his government was preparing a series of constitutional decrees to defend the nation's sovereignty in the event of an "attack" from US forces.

Maduro has accused the Trump administration of using drug trafficking accusations as an excuse for a military operation, the aim of which is to topple his government.

Few details are known about the deadly strikes, the first of which took place on 2 September and killed 11 people, according to the White House.

US officials have said that boat and another vessel targeted on 16 September had set out to sea from Venezuela. Three people died in the second attack.

The US said it struck a third boat on Friday, killing three people. However, no details were given about the location of that strike, or the origins of the vessel.

The Trump administration has yet to explain how the US military assessed the boats' cargo and determined the alleged gang affiliation of passengers.

Several senators, Democrats and some Republicans, as well as human rights groups have questioned the legality of Trump's action.

They view it as a potential overreach of executive authority in part because the military was used for law enforcement purposes.

The strikes follow a major build-up of US maritime forces in the Caribbean.

"They said that the missiles in the Caribbean were used to stop drug trafficking. That is a lie stated here in this very rostrum," Petro also said in his speech on Tuesday, in what appeared to be a direct reference to Trump, who spoke hours earlier.

"Was it really necessary to bomb unarmed, poor young people in the Caribbean?"