Laura Gamba
14 July 2026•Update: 14 July 2026
Colombian President Gustavo Petro slammed the US government on Tuesday following the death of Joan Sebastian Duran Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian national who was fatally shot by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Biddeford, Maine.
In a statement published on his US social media platform X account, Petro characterized the fatal shooting as state-sponsored murder and invoked historical human rights precedents to condemn the incident.
“What happened in Maine constitutes a murder of a Colombian, a Latin American, at the hands of the US government,” Petro wrote. “Johan Sebastian Duran may rest in peace as a victim of state persecution and exclusion against a civilian population group for ethnic and cultural reasons banned since the times of the Nuremberg court around the planet.”
Petro argued that Duran was killed because federal officers treated him as “an inferior being without rights,” despite holding valid legal status with all the corresponding rights. The president called on Colombia’s foreign service in the US to take immediate “legal and humane action so that the murderers pay for their homicide,” while demanding an official statement from the US President Donald Trump.
The shooting occurred while Duran was commuting between his two jobs. According to reports, ICE agents were conducting an operation targeting another individual when they intercepted Duran's vehicle.
US authorities claim Duran failed to stop in time, which agents interpreted as an attempt to flee and use his vehicle “as a weapon.” An agent fired at least four rounds into Duran's white sedan, an action federal authorities have officially classified as self-defense.
A witness reported that as agents pulled a bleeding Duran from his car, his final words were: “I tried to stop.”
Duran, who leaves behind a wife and a three-year-old daughter, was fully documented and maintained legal status in the US. He worked cleaning a veterinary clinic and delivered goods in his personal car.
The incident comes at a critical juncture for US-Colombia relations, which have faced significant diplomatic strain in months.
The Colombian diplomatic mission in Washington, led by Ambassador Daniel Garcia-Pena, is handling the fallout with care to prevent a complete breakdown in bilateral ties.
The embassy's formal inquiries have focused primarily on the Department of Homeland Security, seeking an independent and transparent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the fatal shooting.
