US sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, escalating Trump feud

The United States Treasury has slapped sanctions connected Colombian President Gustavo Petro, his household and the South American country’s interior minister, Armando Benedetti.

Friday’s determination marks a important escalation successful the ongoing feud betwixt the left-wing Petro and his US counterpart, the right-wing Donald Trump.

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In a statement, the US Treasury accused Petro of failing to rein successful Colombia’s cocaine manufacture and of shielding transgression groups from accountability.

The Treasury cited Petro’s “Total Peace” plan, an inaugural designed to bring Colombia’s six-decade-long interior struggle to an extremity done negotiations with equipped rebels and transgression organisations.

“Since President Gustavo Petro came to power, cocaine accumulation successful Colombia has exploded to the highest complaint successful decades, flooding the United States and poisoning Americans,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said successful a statement.

“President Petro has allowed cause cartels to flourish and refused to halt this activity.”

Petro, a prolific societal media user, rapidly changeable backmost that the Treasury’s determination was the culmination of long-standing Republican threats, including from US Senator Bernie Moreno, a professional of his presidency.

“Bernie Moreno’s menace has so been fulfilled,” Petro wrote connected the societal media level X. “My wife, my children, and I person been placed connected the OFAC [Office of Foreign Assets Control] list.”

He argued that his state had been “fighting cause trafficking efficaciously for decades” and suggested helium would contention the sanctions successful the US tribunal system.

“Not 1 measurement backmost and ne'er connected my knees,” Petro wrote, pledging not to backmost down from the fight.

Friday’s designation puts Petro successful a comparatively tiny radical of apical planetary leaders to beryllium sanctioned by the US.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has faced idiosyncratic sanctions for quality rights abuses successful his country, and Russian President Vladimir Putin was besides hit with sanctions pursuing his country’s full-scale penetration of Ukraine successful 2022.

The sanctions against Petro, however, travel arsenic the left-wing person and erstwhile rebel reaches the twilight of his presidency. Term-limited, helium is slated to measurement down successful 2026.

Petro is considered the archetypal left-wing president successful modern Colombian history.

It besides marks the latest enactment the Trump medication has taken against 1 of its astir salient critics successful Latin America.

A past of confrontation

The feud betwixt Petro and Trump began soon aft the US president returned the White House for a 2nd word connected January 20.

Quickly, Trump moved to fulfil a run promise: the wide deportation of undocumented immigrants from the US.

Images of shackled immigrants being herded onto US subject airplanes filled the planetary media. Petro was among those who expressed outrage connected societal media.

In the wee hours of January 26, helium threatened not to judge 2 deportation flights that were successful midair from the US. “The US cannot dainty Colombian migrants arsenic criminals,” helium wrote connected societal media.

Trump responded by threatening the state with 30-percent tariffs, and Petro backed down.

But the 2 person continued to butt heads implicit issues ranging from migration to quality rights to however Colombia should tamp down connected its illicit cocaine production.

The South American state remains the world’s largest root of coca, a leafage that tin beryllium processed into cocaine. Last year, the United Nations reported that Colombia had marked its 10th consecutive twelvemonth of expanding cocaine production, with a 53 percent summation implicit 2022, erstwhile Petro took office.

Trump, however, has progressively leaned into the combat against cause trafficking arsenic helium flexes his mightiness abroad, peculiarly successful Latin America.

He has, for example, wielded the menace of elevated tariffs connected US imports to unit different countries, including neighbours similar Canada and Mexico, to combat cause smuggling.

Clashes implicit subject strikes

Since September 2, Trump has followed his threats with subject action, carrying retired a bid of rocket strikes connected nautical vessels successful the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.

The target, Trump has said, were drug-traffickers. But Petro has argued that the strikes magnitude to extrajudicial killings.

He has utilized his societal media level to highlight cases similar that of fisherman Alejandro Carranza, who reportedly died successful 1 of the strikes. At slightest 34 radical person been killed successful the bombings, their identities ne'er officially confirmed.

“These are not warfare casualties,” Petro wrote successful one societal media post connected Friday, soon earlier the sanctions were announced. “They are murders.”

Petro took that connection to the signifier astatine the United Nations successful New York successful September, blasting the Trump medication for its actions.

“The convulsive warfare connected drugs was a failure, and I replaced it with an effectual anti-trafficking policy,” Petro told the planetary body.

“Was it truly indispensable to sprout missiles connected unarmed mediocre young radical successful the Caribbean? The anti-drug argumentation is meant to halt cocaine that is coming to the United States. The anti-drug argumentation is to predominate the peoples of the southbound arsenic a whole.”

Petro was seen afterwards connected the streets of New York City protesting with pro-Palestinian demonstrators successful absorption to Israel’s warfare connected Gaza.

Within hours, the Trump administration, which has compared specified protests to terrorism, yanked Petro’s visa “due to his reckless and incendiary actions”.

That aforesaid month, the medication besides decertified Colombia arsenic a spouse successful the US’s ongoing “war connected drugs”.

Ending Colombia’s aid

Relations betwixt Trump and Petro person lone grown much tense since.

Just this week, Trump announced connected his level Truth Social that helium would beryllium ending each assistance to Colombia, the largest recipient of US funds successful South America.

He besides warned the US could instrumentality a much progressive relation successful the portion if Petro does not bash much to stem the cocaine trade.

“Petro, a debased rated and precise unpopular leader, with a caller rima toward America, amended adjacent up these sidesplitting fields immediately, oregon the United States volition adjacent them up for him, and it won’t beryllium done nicely,” Trump wrote.

It was a menace Trump would repeat days later, connected October 22, successful a gathering with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

“He’d amended ticker it, oregon we’ll instrumentality precise superior enactment against him and his country,” Trump said of Petro. “What helium has led his state into is simply a decease trap.”

Petro, successful response, threatened to writer Trump for slander. The US person has called Petro a “drug dealer”, “thug” and “bad guy”, among different things.

The spat betwixt the 2 presidents has near their countries’ diplomatic relations frayed, with Colombia precocious recalling its ambassador from Washington, DC.

But traditionally, Colombia had been 1 of the US’s apical allies successful the portion and a cardinal spouse successful its efforts to stem the cause trade.