By MANUEL RUEDA
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian president Gustavo Petro on Tuesday lashed out on the U.S. authorities after it added Colombia to an inventory of countries failing to cooperate within the drug conflict for the primary time in three a long time.
In a message on his X account, the leftist chief accused the US of looking for to “participate” in Colombian politics and on the lookout for a “puppet president” because the nation prepares for presidential elections subsequent yr.
“The Colombian people will reply if they want a puppet president…or a free and sovereign nation” Petro wrote, including in one other message that he wouldn’t let his nation “kneel” to U.S. pursuits and permit peasants who develop coca to get “beaten up.”
On Monday, the Trump administration designated Colombia as a rustic that’s failing to fulfill its worldwide commitments to battle drug trafficking and blamed the Colombian authorities for a scarcity of progress within the battle towards the cocaine commerce.
The designation, often called decertification, is a surprising rebuke for a standard U.S. ally. It comes amid a latest surge in cocaine manufacturing and fraying ties between the White Home and Colombia’s first leftist president.
At the same time as the united statesdetermined that Colombia has didn’t adjust to worldwide anti-narcotics obligations, the Trump administration issued a waiver of sanctions that will have triggered main help cuts.
On Tuesday, the cost d’affaires on the U.S. embassy in Bogota, John McNamara, stated that consular companies, humanitarian initiatives and protection cooperation wouldn’t be affected by Colombia’s decertification.
“We are going to do everything we can to fight with the Colombian people against the global threat” of medication, McNamara instructed Colombian radio station Blu.
Colombia’s decertification comes as cocaine manufacturing skyrockets within the South American nation.
The quantity of land devoted to cultivating coca, the bottom ingredient of cocaine, has nearly tripled up to now decade to a report 253,000 hectares in 2023, in line with the most recent report out there from the U.N. Workplace on Medication and Crime.
Petro, a former insurgent himself, additionally has angered senior U.S. officers by denying American extradition requests in addition to criticizing the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and its efforts to fight drug trafficking in neighboring Venezuela.
The Colombian president has additionally stated that whisky kills extra individuals than cocaine, and claimed that the rationale rich international locations like the US wish to crack down on cocaine is as a result of its produced in Latin America.
Sandra Borda, a world relations professor at Bogota’s Los Andes College stated that Colombia’s decertification is unlikely to have an effect on efforts to tackle drug traffickers in Colombia, as a result of navy cooperation is anticipated to proceed.
Nonetheless she expects tensions between the governments of the U.S. and Colombia to extend, as Petro makes use of Colombia’s decertification to faucet into anti-American sentiment and rally his supporters forward of subsequent yr’s elections.
“There has been a difficult relationship” between the Petro and Trump administrations, she defined. “You have statements and declarations that are not friendly and I think what you are going to see is an escalation of that.”
Within the Presidential Dedication submitted to Congress on Monday, the Trump administration principally blamed Petro for the rise of cocaine manufacturing in Colombia, describing his efforts to barter peace offers with “narco terrorist groups” as a failure.
The report stated that Colombia’s safety establishments and municipal authorities have proven “skill and courage” in confronting drug traffickers, however stated that “the failure of Colombia to meet its drug control obligations over the past year rests solely with its political leadership.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio additionally commented on Colombia’s decertification on Tuesday.
“Colombia has been a great partner historically,” Rubio instructed reporters. “But they have a president now who in addition to being erratic has not been a very good partner when it comes to taking on drug cartels.”
