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Nov. 13, 2025, 7:56 AM ESTBy Richard Engel, Marc Smith, Erika Angulo and Babak DehghanpishehBOGOTA, Colombia — Intelligence “is not for killing,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro told NBC News in a wide-ranging interview Wednesday, explaining his decision to stop sharing information with the United States in opposition to lethal strikes on boats allegedly carrying illegal drugs.Describing President Donald Trump as a “barbarian” who “wants to frighten us,” Petro, a former Marxist revolutionary and one of the few international leaders willing to openly criticize his American counterpart, called the U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean “undoubtedly an aggression against Latin America.” Colombia would not “pass on the information because we would be collaborating with a crime against humanity,” he told NBC News at the presidential palace in Bogota, reiterating a decision announced earlier this week.Acknowledging “the most key thing is intelligence” in combating the drug trade, he added, “The more we coordinate intelligence, the better. That is what I have been doing. But intelligence is not for killing.”Colombian President Gustavo PetroTODAYTensions have risen dramatically between Trump and Petro in recent weeks over the issue of American military attacks against boats allegedly carrying illegal narcotics in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific, which have killed dozens. At least 19 strikes have been carried out so far, according to Reuters. Trump has justified them by saying the United States is in “armed conflict” with drug cartels and claiming the boats are operated by foreign terror organizations that are flooding America’s cities with drugs.But his administration has provided no evidence for these assertions and lawmakers, including Republicans, have pressed for more information on who is being targeted and the legal justification for the strikes.A White House official said in an email Thursday that it was “hardly surprising” that Petro was opposed to Trump’s “successful operations to halt the flow of drugs to our country.” They added that Trump had directed the actions “consistent with his responsibility to protect Americans and United States interests abroad and in furtherance of United States national security and foreign policy interests.” “Despite billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars invested in Colombia’s counterdrug efforts, cartels are thriving under Petro’s failed policies,” they said. Trump called Petro an “illegal drug leader” on Truth Social last month, accusing him of being directly involved in the drug trade and working with traffickers. After Petro called a U.S. strike “murder” in a post on X, Trump said he would cut aid and raise tariffs on Colombia. The Treasury Department subsequently hit his Colombian counterpart and members of his family with sanctions.Petro then announced this week that he was suspending intelligence sharing with Washington. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted images on X of a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in the Caribbean on Nov. 6.Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s X Account / AFP via Getty ImagesThe United Kingdom has also stopped sharing intelligence because of concerns about the legality of U.S. strikes, two sources with knowledge of the matter told NBC News. And French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot also said at the start of a a Group of Seven foreign ministers meeting in Canada on Tuesday that the strikes “violate international law” and were concerning for France’s territories in the region.Petro did not say definitively that the boats that have been recently attacked were not carrying drugs. “Maybe or maybe not. We do not know,” he said. “According to due process, the civilized treatment of people, they should be seized and detained.”“They are poor boatmen, they know how to drive a boat, they are hired in their poverty by the gangsters. But gangsters don’t sit on the boats,” he said. “Then when one of those missiles arrives [it] kills that boatman. It doesn’t kill the drug trafficker.”His government, he said, “has seized more cocaine than any other government in world history. Trump’s insult is at odds reality, how can he call the largest destroyer of cocaine a chief trafficker?” Petro strongly denied Trump’s personal accusations, calling the president “lost” and suggesting that he was being misled by other U.S. officials on the issue. “He is lost on the issue of the real analysis of what is going on with cocaine in Colombia.”Petro, who considers himself a left-wing revolutionary, added, “He is a barbarian, but anyone can change.”The Colombian president is not the only leader in the region feeling pressure. Trump has also singled out the president of neighboring Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, as a target for his ire and leveled accusations of complicity in the drug trade against him, too. Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino, left, observes soldiers training in Caracas on Tuesday.Bolivarian National Armed Forces of Venezuela / AFP via Getty ImagesThe tense standoff between the U.S. and Venezuela escalated after Trump sent an aircraft carrier strike group to the Caribbean and confirmed he had approved covert CIA operations inside the country, a move that critics say could be a prelude to an attempt to push Maduro from office.Trump has not confirmed any covert actions against Colombia yet and Petro struck a defiant tone about Trump’s recent regional moves and the potential for war. “He wants to frighten us. Fear is not the same as the facts,” Petro said, though he did not throw his support behind Maduro, either. Asked whether Maduro was a legitimate leader, Petro said, “No, I believe that there has been no legitimate leadership for some time.”Richard Engel, Marc Smith and Erika Angulo reported from Bogota. Babak Dehghanpisheh reported from New York. Richard EngelNBC News Chief Foreign CorrespondentMarc SmithMarc Smith is a foreign producer for NBC News, based in London.Erika AnguloErika Angulo is a senior coordinating producer for NBC News.Babak DehghanpishehBabak Dehghanpisheh is an NBC News Digital international editor based in New York.Abigail Brubaker and Alexander Smith contributed.

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Savewith a NBCUniversal ProfileCreate your free profile or log in to save this articleOct. 9, 2025, 3:53 PM EDTBy Kate Reilly and Saba HamedyJimmy Kimmel pressed comedian Aziz Ansari this week about his decision to perform at Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Comedy Festival, with Kimmel calling the Saudi government a “pretty brutal regime” and questioning why Ansari would “take their money.”Held in Saudi Arabia’s capital city, the Riyadh Comedy Festival began on Sept. 26 and ends Thursday. The event has hosted over 50 stand-up comedians from around the world, including big names such as Ansari, Kevin Hart, Pete Davidson and Dave Chappelle. Those comedians have been facing backlash since accepting seemingly lucrative deals to perform in a country that has been criticized for its human rights violations.In an interview on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Tuesday night, Kimmel pressed Ansari about his decision to take the stage in Riyadh. “People, a lot of comedians especially, are very upset, because the people who paid the comedians to come to this are not good people,” Kimmel said. “It’s a pretty brutal regime. They’ve done a lot of horrible, horrible things.” The talk show host then asked Ansari why he chose to appear at the event, stating that “people are questioning why you would go over there and take their money to perform in front of these people.”Ansari said he put a lot of thought into the decision, explaining that he consulted his aunt, who used to live in Saudi Arabia.”There’s people over there that don’t agree with the stuff that the government’s doing, and to ascribe like the worst behavior of the government onto those people, that’s not fair,” Ansari said his aunt pointed out. “Just like there’s people in America that don’t agree with the things the government is doing.”Kimmel agreed that “we’re doing horrible things over here,” but pushed back on Ansari’s comparison between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. “They murdered a journalist,” Kimmel said, referring to Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018. Kimmel then asked Ansari if he had dealt “with those people specifically.”Ansari replied, “No, I was just there to do a show for the people.” The comedian further explained his thought process, saying his wife told him that “whenever there’s repressive societies like this, they try to keep things out — whether it’s rock ‘n’ roll music or blue jeans — because it makes people curious about outside ideas, outside values.”Ansari, who is Indian American, went on to add that “to me, a comedy festival felt like something that’s pushing things to be more open and to push a dialogue.” He then discussed how his own background compelled him to do the performance.”For me, especially being me and looking the way I do and being from a Muslim background, it felt like something I should be a part of. And I hope it pushes things in a positive direction.”Ansari did not immediately respond to an NBC News request for comment. When speaking to Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw at the publication’s Screentime event on Wednesday, Kimmel — whose show recently returned to the air after it was briefly suspended by ABC and Disney over the host’s remarks about Charlie Kirk’s assassination — addressed why he pressed Ansari on the matter.“I wouldn’t have gone (to Riyadh), but I wanted to hear his reasons,” said Kimmel, who also noted that Ansari was aware he would ask him about the festival.“Nothing’s black and white,” Kimmel added. “It’s not something I would do, but I do understand the idea that if we close ourselves off to the world … maybe that’s not good. I don’t know that my reasoning is correct reasoning.”He drew a parallel to current U.S. politics. “We see it happening in this country, too,” he said. “We travel abroad, many of us don’t want to be held accountable for what our president does and says.” Kimmel’s skepticism about the Riyadh Comedy Festival comes after many comedians have publicly criticized the event.”WFT” podcast host Marc Maron ripped into the festival in a stand-up clip posted to Instagram on Sept. 23. “I mean, how do you even promote that?” Maron said. “Like, ‘From the folks that brought you 9/11, two weeks of laughter in the desert. Don’t miss it.’”Shane Gillis also condemned the event on his podcast, and said that the festival organizers “doubled the bag” after he declined to perform. Human Rights Watch wrote in a press release published on Sept. 23 that the Saudi government is using the comedy festival “to deflect attention from its brutal repression of free speech and other pervasive human rights violations.”The Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C., and Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, which announced the festival in July, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Kate ReillyKate Reilly is a news associate with NBC News.Saba HamedySaba Hamedy is the trends and culture editor for NBC News.

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