US places sanctions on Colombian president over alleged failure to stop cartels | US foreign policy
The US treasury department announced sanctions against Colombian President Gustavo Petro, one of Donald Trump’s harshest international critics.
“President Petro has allowed drug cartels to thrive and has refused to stop this activity,” Treasury secretary Scott Bessent wrote in a post on X. “Today, President Trump is taking strong action to protect our nation.”
Petro said in his response to
“My government has seized the most cocaine in the history of the world.” Peter wrote in Spanish. “What the US treasury is doing is the typical arbitrariness of an oppressive regime.”
The sanctions are not the first action taken by the US government against Petro. The US State Department revoked Petro’s visa in September after he participated in pro-Palestinian protests in New York. Constantly criticizing the US support for Israeli military actions, Petro called on American soldiers “not to point their guns at people, not to obey Trump’s orders, but to obey the orders of humanity.”
In a post on X, Petro added: “Annulling this resolution because it condemns genocide shows that the United States no longer respects international law.”
Petro did not mince words when speaking about the US’s extrajudicial killings of alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean. In one of the attacks, a Colombian fisherman was killed, whose family and the Colombian government denied that he was a drug trafficker.
“This is murder. Whether in the Caribbean or the Pacific, the US government’s strategy violates the norms of international law,” Petro wrote on social media.
Although rare, sanctions against a head of state are not unprecedented. The move adds Petro to a list that includes the leaders of Russia, Venezuela and North Korea.
Petro’s wife, son and Colombian interior minister Armando Benedetti were also sanctioned on Friday under authority that allows Washington to target people it accuses of involvement in the global illicit drug trade.
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Already facing former MP Nicolas Petro corruption accusations He said he was targeted in Colombia because he was his father’s son in X and that his ongoing case had nothing to do with drug trafficking.
Friday’s action freezes the U.S. assets of those targeted and generally prevents Americans from doing business with them.
“President Trump has made it clear that President Petro had better close these killing fields immediately, otherwise the United States will close these fields for itself, and that will not be done well,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said.
