FILE - Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro speaks during a meeting of leaders of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization in Bogota, Colombia, Aug. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, File)
FILE - Laundry dries on a clothesline in the middle of a coca field on a hillside of the Micay Canyon, southwestern Colombia, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, File)
Colombia鈥檚 president lashes out at Trump administration over drug war designation
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) 鈥 Colombian president Gustavo Petro on Tuesday lashed out at the U.S. government after it added Colombia to a list of nations failing to cooperate in the drug war for the first time in three decades.
FILE - Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro speaks during a meeting of leaders of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization in Bogota, Colombia, Aug. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, File)
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) 鈥 Colombian president Gustavo Petro on Tuesday lashed out at the U.S. government after it added Colombia to a list of nations failing to cooperate in the drug war for the first time in three decades.
In a message on his X account, the leftist leader accused the United States of seeking to 鈥減articipate鈥 in Colombian politics and looking for a 鈥減uppet president鈥 as the country prepares for presidential elections next year.
鈥淭he Colombian people will reply if they want a puppet president鈥r a free and sovereign nation鈥 Petro wrote, adding in another message that he would not let his nation 鈥渒neel鈥 to U.S. interests and allow peasants who grow coca to get 鈥渂eaten up.鈥
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On Monday, the Trump administration designated Colombia as a country that is failing to meet its international commitments to fight drug trafficking and blamed the Colombian government for a lack of progress in the fight against the cocaine trade.
The designation, known as decertification, is a stunning rebuke for a traditional U.S. ally. It comes amid a recent and fraying ties between the White House and Colombia鈥檚 first leftist president.
Even as the U.S determined that Colombia has failed to comply with international anti-narcotics obligations, the Trump administration issued a waiver of sanctions that would have triggered major aid cuts.
On Tuesday, the charge d鈥檃ffaires at the U.S. embassy in Bogota, John McNamara, said that consular services, humanitarian projects and defense cooperation would not be affected by Colombia鈥檚 decertification.
鈥淲e are going to do everything we can to fight with the Colombian people against the global threat鈥 of drugs, McNamara told Colombian radio station Blu.
Colombia鈥檚 decertification comes as cocaine production skyrockets in the South American country.
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The amount of land dedicated to cultivating coca, the base ingredient of cocaine, has almost tripled in the past decade to a record 253,000 hectares in 2023, according to the latest report available from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.
Petro, a former rebel himself, also has angered senior U.S. officials by denying American extradition requests as well as criticizing the Trump administration鈥檚 immigration crackdown and its efforts to combat drug trafficking in neighboring Venezuela.
In a Presidential Determination submitted to Congress on Monday, the Trump administration mostly blamed Petro for the rise of cocaine production in Colombia describing his efforts to negotiate peace deals with “narco terrorist groups鈥 as a failure.
The report said that Colombia鈥檚 security institutions and municipal authorities have shown 鈥渟kill and courage鈥 in confronting drug traffickers, but said that 鈥渢he failure of Colombia to meet its drug control obligations over the past year rests solely with its political leadership.鈥
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