Colombian president demands Trinidad and Tobago search for those killed in US strike

This story has been updated to include additional details. See updated post here.

Colombian president Gustavo Petro has said it is "extremely important" that TT search for the remains of the 11 people who were killed in the lethal US strike on an alleged drug boat on September 2.

Petro referred to the boat as a civilian vessel, “About which we do not know if it was carrying drugs, and if it was, it should not have been bombed,” he said in a post to X on September 9.

“The bombing took place in the territorial waters of TT, did the island’s government give permission? Life comes first, always and everywhere,” Petro said.

This comes after two bodies washed ashore on Trinidad's north eastern coastline over the weekend. The first was found on September 5, and the second on September 7. Police said the bodies had burns and missing limbs "consistent with an explosion."

The US has not given details of where the strike took place and it has not been confirmed that it happened in TT territorial waters.

The Colombian president's call to the TT government also comes after a combative statement by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who stood by the US military action.

“The slaughter of our people is fuelled by evil cartel traffickers. The pain and suffering the cartels have inflicted on our nation is immense,” she said in a statement on the day of the strike.

“I have no sympathy for traffickers, the US military should kill them all, violently,”

Petro received backlash on the post with Mexican musician and author Jesús Romero saying, “And who takes care of the remains of the guerrillas executed by the Colombian government? You are responsible for the coca crops.”

Another user said, “...he speaks about the innocent lives in TT but remains silent about the lives lost in Cauca, Arauca, in Cataumbo. He speaks of reconciliation for Venezuela, but denies justice and dignity to Colombians.”