New York, New York - Colombia's President Gustavo Petro addressed the UN General Assembly Tuesday to call for a "criminal process" to be opened against Donald Trump over the deadly US strikes on boats in the Caribbean.

Petro said unarmed "poor young people" died in the strikes that the US said were part of an anti-drug operation off the coast of Venezuela, whose president the Trump administration accuses of running a cartel.

Over a dozen people have been killed in strikes on at least three boats in attacks UN experts have described as extrajudicial executions.

Trump on Tuesday doubled down, vowing to obliterate drug smugglers.

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"To every terrorist thug smuggling poisonous drugs into the United States of America, please be warned that we will blow you out of existence," he told the UN General Assembly in a rambling address.

Trump has dispatched eight warships and a submarine to the southern Caribbean, and the biggest US deployment in years has raised fears in Venezuela of an invasion.

Maduro has accused Trump – who during his first term backed a failed coup against the Venezuelan leader – of trying to affect regime change.

Thousands of Venezuelans have joined a civilian militia in response to Maduro's call for bolstering the cash-strapped country's defenses against US aggression

Petro has said he suspects some of those killed in the US boat strikes were Colombian.

He argued in New York on Tuesday that Trump – whom he also accused of being complicit in Israel's genocide in Gaza – must be investigated for giving the order for US forces to target "young people who simply wanted to escape poverty" while many cartel bosses live in the US.

"A criminal process must be initiated against those officials who are from the United States. This includes the senior official who gave the order, President Trump," Petro said.

The Trump administration last week decertified Colombia as an ally in the fight against drugs, but stopped short of economic sanctions. In response, Petro said he had suspended all weapons purchases from the US.