Colombia halts US arms purchases as row over drug fight delisting escalates

President Gustavo Petro defends cause warfare argumentation and insists helium volition not beryllium a ‘puppet president’ of Washington.

Colombia has halted arms purchases from the United States, its biggest subject partner, implicit Washington’s assertion that the South American state is failing to halt cocaine trafficking.

Colombian Interior Minister Armando Benedetti announced the determination connected Tuesday, arsenic President Gustavo Petro accused the US of seeking to “participate” successful the country’s home authorities and looking for a “puppet president” up of elections adjacent year.

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“From this infinitesimal connected … weapons volition not beryllium purchased from the United States,” Benedetti told Blu Radio successful an interrogation connected Tuesday.

US President Donald Trump connected Monday decertified Colombia arsenic an state successful the combat against drugs, accusing the state of allowing cocaine accumulation to surge to “all-time records”.

Though seen arsenic a mostly symbolic move, it marked different stroke to Washington’s confederation with Bogota aft the sides clashed earlier this twelvemonth implicit the deportation of undocumented migrants to the Latin American country.

It is unclear however the delisting volition impact the millions of dollars provided by Washington each twelvemonth to Bogota to bolster its combat against cause cartels and leftist fighters funded by cocaine trafficking.

US assistance for anti-narcotics efforts successful Colombia amounts to immoderate $380m a year.

In a bid of posts connected X connected Tuesday, Petro, a erstwhile leftist fighter, defended his cause warfare policy, insisting that his authorities had seized much cocaine than erstwhile administrations.

In a connection during a gathering of ministers, Petro besides said Colombia “will not beryllium blackmailed” by the US government, adding that helium “is not acrophobic astir the US aid”.

“We are the ones who assistance them, due to the fact that the occupation is theirs, not ours,” Petro said, suggesting that Colombia’s subject would extremity its dependence connected US “handouts”.

Responding to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s characterisation of the Colombian person arsenic “erratic” successful the combat against drugs, Petro said bombing civilian boats successful Latin American waters was “truly erratic”.

He was referring to Trump’s determination to onslaught 2 Venezuelan boats that helium claimed were being operated by cause cartels and en way to the US.

“Most of the cocaine that travels by oversea leaves successful containers from the ports, and goes connected ample ships and not successful speedboats,” Petro wrote connected X.

Petro added that helium would not let his federation to “kneel” to US interests oregon let peasants who turn coca to get “beaten up”.

Since coming to powerfulness successful 2022, Petro has championed a paradigm displacement successful the US-led alleged warfare connected drugs, focusing connected addressing societal problems that substance cause trafficking successful favour of eradication.

On his watch, the cultivation of coca, the main constituent successful cocaine, has accrued by astir 70 percent, according to the Colombian authorities and the United Nations.

The magnitude of onshore dedicated to cultivating coca astir tripled to a grounds 253,000 hectares (about 625,200 acres) successful the decennary up to 2023, according to the latest study by the UN Office connected Drugs and Crime.

Writing connected X, Petro blamed the figures connected “the summation successful [cocaine] depletion worldwide, particularly successful Europe”.

“The satellite needs to alteration its anti-drug argumentation due to the fact that it has failed,” helium said, adding that cocaine depletion successful the US had lone stabilised “because they switched en masse to fentanyl consumption, which is 30 times much deadly”.

Petro has repeatedly clashed with Trump, attracting his ire by denying US extradition requests arsenic good arsenic criticising his migration crackdown and efforts to combat cause trafficking successful neighbouring Venezuela.

He has besides criticised US state Israel implicit its warfare connected Gaza, cutting diplomatic ties with the state successful 2024.