MIAMI (AP) — The Trump administration added Columbia to its list of countries that have not cooperated in the drug war for the first time in nearly 30 years on Monday. Recent surge in cocaine production And the frayed connection between the White House and the country’s leftist president.
Even if Columbia determines it has failed to comply with its international counter-catics obligations, the Trump administration has issued a sanctions exemption that cites US interests and causes major aid cuts.
Nevertheless, it is a major step against one of Latin America’s most solid allies, and analysts said it could hurt the economy and further hinder efforts to restore rural security.
President Gustavo Peter has said that whiskey kills more people than cocaine several times.
“What we’ve done doesn’t really have much to do with the people of Colombia,” he said of the country’s gas efforts. “It’s about stopping North American society from painting its nose,” with cocaine.
The US last added Colombia to its list. It was added in 1997, when the country’s cartels poisoned many of the country’s institutions through violence and money threats, through a process known as announcing.
“These are the best places to go,” said Adam Isaxon, a security researcher at the Washington office in Latin America. “That’s why it’s rarely used.”
The then president, Ernesto Samper, faced credibility. Accusations of being contributed by illegal campaigns It was discovered that he was carrying four kilograms of heroin from the now-deprecated Carricartel and the plane he plans to use on his trip to New York to attend the UN General Assembly.
When Samper resigned, an incredible shift began. Both Republican and Democrats have sent billions of foreign aid to Colombia to eradicate illegal Coca crops, strengthening their troops in the fight against drug-fueled rebels, Provides economic alternatives for poor farmers People in the worst langus in the cocaine industry.
Surge in cocaine production
Its cooperation, a rare US foreign policy success in Latin America, began to unravel a decade ago after the halt of aerial eradication of coca fields by glyphosate. Following the decision of the Columbia High Court, it found that the US-funded program was harmful to the environment and to the farmers.
The 2016 peace agreement with Colombia’s revolutionary military, the country’s largest rebel group known as the FARC, committed to rolling back a punitive policy that likened Colombia to spraying American agent orange during the Vietnam War, in favour of state buildings, rural development and voluntary crop replacements.
since then, Cocaine production It’s rising sharply. The amount of land dedicated to growing coca, the basic ingredient of cocaine, has almost tripled to a record 253,000 hectares in 2023 in the last decade, according to the latest report available from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. That’s almost three times more than New York City.
In addition to production, drug attacks have soared to 654 metres tonnes so far this year. Columbia seized a record 884 metric tons last year.
However, unlike previous governments, Manual eradication of coca The crop below Petro Leadership slowed to just 5,048 hectares this year, at 5,048 hectares. It’s far less than 68,000 hectares, uprooted in the final year of his conservative predecessor’s term, and well below the government’s own 30,000 hectares target.
Critics of US policy
Petro, a former rebel, has angered American officials by denying the US extradition demands and criticizing Trump’s administration’s efforts to crack down on immigrants and combat drug trafficking in nearby Venezuela.
“Under my administration, Colombia will not cooperate in assassinations,” Peter said after the fatal strike of the US forces on September 5th. Small Venezuelan ship in the Caribbean that The Trump administration said it was transporting cocaine I’m tied up in the US
“Columbia’s failure to fulfill its drug management obligations over the past year depends solely on political leadership,” Trump said in a presidential memo submitted to Congress. “We consider changing this designation if the Colombian government takes more aggressive action to eradicate cocaine, reduce cocaine production and trafficking, and benefit from cocaine production, human trafficking, and the production of cocaine directors.
Under US law, a president must identify each year which countries have not fulfilled their obligations under international counter-catics agreements in the last 12 months.
In addition to Colombia, the Trump administration has listed four countries: Afghanistan, Bolivia, Burma and Venezuela. With the exception of Afghanistan, the White House determined that US aid to these countries was essential to the national interest and thus escaped potential sanctions.
The redesignation of Venezuela, which failed to properly fight drugs smuggled from nearby Colombia, has already led to two deadly strikes, despite the backdrop of the US major military accumulation in the Caribbean. Little Venezuelan ship that The Trump administration said it was transporting cocaine I’m tied up in the US
“In Venezuela, the criminal administration of indicted drug trafficker Nicolas Maduro leads one of the world’s largest cocaine trafficking networks, and the United States continues to seek to lead Maduro and other members of his conspiracy administration to justice for his crimes,” Trump’s designation states. “We will also target foreign terrorist organizations in Venezuela, such as Tren de Aragua, and cleanse them from our country.”
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Suarez reported from Bogota, Colombia. Associated author Manuel Ruda contributed to this report from Bogota.
