WASHINGTON (AP) – The Trump administration on Friday imposed sanctions against Colombia’s president. Gustavo Petrohis family and government officials over his alleged involvement in the global drug trade, escalates rapidly Tensions with left-wing leaders One of the United States’ closest allies in South America.
The Treasury Department imposed a similar fine on Petro. his wife, Veronica del Socorro Alcocer Garcia; his son, Nicolas Fernando Petro Burgos; Colombian Interior Minister Armando Alberto Benedetti.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement that Petro “allowed drug cartels to flourish and refused to stop this activity.” “President Trump is taking strong actions to protect our country and make it clear that we will not tolerate drug trafficking into our country.”
The move will intensify conflicts, especially between the Republican U.S. president and Colombia’s first leftist leader. deadly american attack On a ship believed to be transporting drugs off the coast of South America.
This week, the Trump administration expanded the crackdown Much of the cocaine from the world’s largest producers, including Colombia, is smuggled into the Eastern Pacific. And with increased military firepower in the region, the U.S. military dispatch an aircraft carrier It has reached waters off the coast of South America, the Pentagon announced Friday.
Peter replies, “I will never kneel.”
After the sanctions were announced, Petro appointed a lawyer to represent him in the United States.
“This action comes from a government in a society that has done so much to stop the use of cocaine that we have, after decades of effectively combating drug trafficking,” Petro wrote to X. “It’s a complete paradox, but he never took a step back, never knelt down.”
Last month, the United States added Colombia, the largest recipient of U.S. aid in the region, to its list of countries. Failed to cooperate with drug war For the first time in about 30 years.
As a result of the decision, the State Department is “reducing assistance to Colombia,” said press secretary Tommy Piggott. said on social media. U.S. aid is expected to be cut by at least 20%, or about $18 million, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity and the details were not made public. Amounts are approximate and subject to change.
The State Department’s Friday statement did not specify how much money would be affected.
The fine was expected after President Trump vowed to cancel all payments to Colombia estimated at $230 million in the budget year ending Sept. 30, but is lower than in recent years when aid amounted to more than $700 million, U.S. figures show.
He recently took to social media to call Petro the “leader of illegal drugs” and threatened to impose tariffs on its exports.
“He’s a guy who makes a lot of drugs,” President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday. “He better watch or we will take very serious action against him and his country.”
Petro said Wednesday that he would resort to the U.S. court system to protect himself after President Trump accused him of having ties to drug trafficking.
“I intend to legally defend myself in American courts with American lawyers against the defamation hurled at me by government officials on U.S. soil,” Petro wrote in X, without naming Trump, but citing reports about Trump’s remarks.
The day before, Petro’s anti-drug policy was a topic of discussion in a meeting between Petro and John T. McNamara, the US chargé d’affaires to Colombia. Mr McNamara also spoke with Foreign Minister Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio Mapi on Thursday.
Colombian president defends drug policy
Petro has repeatedly defended his policy of moving away from repressive approaches and prioritizing reaching an agreement with the United States. coca leaf grower The aim is to go after the drug lords who make cocaine, fight money laundering and encourage people to switch to other crops. He said his government had achieved record cocaine seizures and questioned UN statistics showing that: Documenting coca leaf cultivation and cocaine production.
According to the latest report available from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the area of land devoted to coca cultivation has nearly tripled in the past decade, reaching a record 253,000 hectares (625,000 acres) in 2023. This is about three times the size of New York City.
The Venezuelan government, which is also the target of the Trump administration’s military operations in the region, denounced the sanctions against Petro as an “unlawful, unlawful, neo-colonial act that violates international law and the United Nations Charter.”
The statement praised Petro’s counternarcotics strategy, adding that the U.S. measures were aimed at “promoting destabilization within Colombia.”
Many of the U.S. military attacks targeting drug traffickers suspected of smuggling drugs into the U.S. have struck ships that the U.S. says come from Venezuela or take place in waters off the coast of Venezuela.
Petro has rebelled against the strike, which has killed at least 43 people since it began early last month, and has repeatedly feuded with President Trump this year.
Petro initially refused the U.S. military flight. expelled immigrants, He led President Trump to threaten tariffs. The State Department said it would Cancel Petro’s visa This is because he instructed US soldiers not to follow President Trump’s orders while attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
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Lee reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, and Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.
