Overview
- Colombian President Gustavo Petro dismissed President Donald Trump’s claims that he is tied to cocaine trafficking, calling them the product of a “senile mind” and labeling the U.S. government “greedy people outside the law.”
- Petro questioned his and his family’s continued presence on the OFAC sanctions list and cited changes he says the U.S. Justice Department made to descriptions of the so-called “Cartel of the Suns.”
- Ernesto Samper said Trump’s insinuations about intervention in Colombia and his portrayal of Petro were unacceptable and defended Petro’s record against drug trafficking.
- Samper warned that Washington’s current course risks unraveling years of U.S.-backed, country-to-country cooperation on counter-narcotics with Colombia, Mexico and other regional partners.
- The dispute follows the January 3 U.S. operation in Venezuela, after which Washington said Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores would face trial for alleged “narco‑terrorism,” with Havana and Caracas reporting at least 32 Cuban soldiers and an unspecified number of civilians killed.