Overview

• In March 2023 and July 2024, Petro ordered suspension of arrest warrants for FARC splinter leaders and Clan del Golfo negotiators, effectively granting discretionary amnesties.
• The Ministry of Justice’s proposed amendments to the 2005 Justice and Peace Law would cap sentences at eight years in low-security “agricultural colonies” for narco-commanders and allow them to retain up to 12% of seized assets.
• Critics highlight Petro’s public receptions of violent-group figures, including a state event with Medellín armed-group leaders and an alleged clandestine meeting with a Los Choneros drug lord in Ecuador.
• Analysts say Washington may deploy the Kingpin Act, Global Magnitsky sanctions or Foreign Assistance Act restrictions to punish alleged facilitation of trafficking and corruption.
• Under former president Álvaro Uribe’s recent conviction for bribery and procedural fraud, he began serving a 12-year house-arrest sentence this month, intensifying domestic political polarization.