The United States and Colombia carried out a joint operation this Monday (9) in which a submarine carrying almost ten tons of cocaine was seized, arresting all four crew members.
According to the US State Department, the operation was carried out with the support of the Colombian Armed Forces and resulted in the destruction of the seized drugs, valued at approximately US$441 million, according to a statement posted on social media.
Authorities arrested four suspected drug traffickers who operated the submarine during the operation, which took place in international waters, although the exact location was not disclosed.
Actions in the Pacific, near Colombia, are part of an operation against drug trafficking that the United States has carried out since the end of August in that ocean and in the Caribbean Sea, close to Venezuela, which has so far resulted in at least 36 attacks on vessels allegedly linked to drug trafficking, in which at least 128 people were killed.
The culmination of this operation was the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, accused in the American federal court of narco-terrorism, in a US military operation in Caracas on January 3.
Due to his criticism of this operation, the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, came into the crosshairs of his American counterpart, Donald Trump.
Last year, Petro was the target of economic sanctions from the United States, alleging that the leftist president had allowed drug cartels to “flourish” in Colombia. After Maduro was captured, Trump suggested that an operation could also be carried out on Colombian territory.
However, the two presidents spoke by phone in January and met at the White House last week, when they exchanged praise and talked about cooperation against drug trafficking.
