The United States assigns Colombia as a failure to cooperate in the drug war for the first time in nearly 30 years

On Monday, the Trump administration added Colombia to a list of nations that fail to cooperate in the drug war for the first time in nearly 30 years, and it is a scolding reprimand to a traditional American ally that reflects a modern increase in the production of cocaine and confusion between the White House and the country’s left -wing president.

Although it decided that Colombia had failed to comply with its international obligations in Counsoothics, the Trump administration issued a waiver of the sanctions that would have led to major discounts in aid, noting the vital American national interests.

However, it is a big step against a US allied in Latin America, and may hinder more efforts to restore security in the countryside, according to Adam Isaxon, a security researcher at the Washington Office in Latin America.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said that he regretted the decision, which ignored decades of bloodshed by the Colombian security forces and civilian civilians in the name of the US -led drug war.

“Everything we do has nothing to do with the Colombian people,” Petro said during a television speech on Monday night. “It is to prevent American society from staining its noses for work, work and work, because this drug is a stimulant.”

The United States added the last time Colombia to the list, through a process known as rehabilitation, in 1997 when the country’s cartals – through threats of violence and money – called many institutions of the country.

“It is a sharp and irritating tool in bilateral relationships that go beyond drug problems and make cooperation more difficult in any number of fields,” ISACSON said. “For this reason it is rarely used.”

At that time, the president, Ernesto Samper, was facing reliable accusations of receiving unlawful campaign contributions from Kali Cartel that has now ended, and a plane was to be used for a trip to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly session carrying 4 kilograms of heroin.

A noticeable shift began as soon as Samper left an office. The successive American departments-both Republicans and Democrats-have sent billionaires in Colombia to eliminate illegal Coca crops, strengthen their armed forces in combating rebels who have stopped drugs and providing economic alternatives to poor farmers who are at the lowest degree in the cocaine industry.

This cooperation began to collapse after commenting a decade before the air judiciary of the Koka fields with the Galvosat. The Colombian Supreme Court ruling was followed, which determined that the United States’ program was harmful to the environment and farmers.

The 2016 Peace Agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces in Colombia, the largest rebel group in the country known as FARC, also committed Colombia to back down from the US -like spraying policies in the United States of Under -Orange during the Vietnam War in favor of state building, rural development and replace voluntary crops.

Since then, cocaine production has increased. The amount of lands allocated to coca cultivation, the main component of cocaine, has multiplied almost three times in the past decade to 253,000 hectares in 2023, according to the latest report available from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. This is almost three times the size of New York City.

Along with production, drug attacks also rose to 654 metric tons so far this year. Colombia seized a record number 884 metric tons last year.

However, unlike previous governments, the manual judiciary slowed the Coca crops under Petro leadership, to 5,048 hectares this year – much less than 68,000 hectares uprooted in the last year of his predecessor’s conservative period and much less than the government’s goal of 30,000 hectares.

Petro, a former rebel himself, angered senior US officials by depriving US delivery requests, as well as criticizing the Trump administration campaign and its efforts to combat drug trafficking in neighboring Venezuela.

“Under my administration, Colombia does not cooperate in the assassinations,” Petro said on September 5 after the US Army carried out. A fatal blow to a small Venezuelan ship In the Caribbean Sea region, the Trump administration said it was transporting cocaine heading to the United States

“The failure of Colombia to meet the obligations of drug control over the past year depends only on its political leadership,” Trump said in a presidential note submitted to Congress. “I will consider changing this classification if the Colombia government takes more aggressive measures to eliminate Coca and reduce cocaine production and trafficking in it, as well as retaining producers, trafficking, and taking advantage of responsible cocaine production, including through improved cooperation with the United States to bring Colombian crime leaders to justice.”

Under US law, the president must annually identify countries that have failed to meet their obligations under the international cunternarcotics agreements during the past 12 months.

In addition to Colombia, the Trump administration has included four other countries-Afghanistan, Bolivia, Myanmar and Venezuela-among 23 main countries in the field of drug transport or drug production that failed to meet their international obligations. With the exception of Afghanistan, the White House decided that American assistance to these countries was vital to national interests, and therefore any possible sanctions will be avoided.

The redesign of Venezuela as a country failed to fight drugs that were smuggled from neighboring Colombia comes against the background of a major American military accumulation in the Caribbean region, which has already led Two deadly strikes On the small Venezuelan ships that the Trump administration said was transporting cocaine heading to the United States

“In Venezuela, the criminal system of drug dealers accused Nicholas Maduro is one of the largest cocaine trafficking networks in the world, and the United States will continue to strive to bring Maduro and other members of his collusion to justice for their crimes,” said Trump’s appointment. “We will also target foreign terrorist organizations, such as Treen de Aragua, and purify them from our country.”