Trump Admin Sanctions Colombian President Over Alleged Drug Trade Involvement

The Trump administration on Friday stepped up its fight against international drug traffickers, imposing sanctions against Colombian President Gustavo Petro, his family, and a key cabinet member, while alleging the sanctioned parties are complicit in a transnational narcotics syndicate.

The sanctions apply to Petro, his wife, Veronica del Socorro Alcocer Garcia; his son, Nicolas Fernando Petro Burgos; and Colombian Interior Minister Armando Alberto Benedetti, the State Department said in a statement.

Petro “has allowed drug cartels to flourish and refused to stop this activity,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “President [Donald] Trump is taking strong action to protect our nation and make clear that we will not tolerate the trafficking of drugs into our nation.”

The sanctions effectively isolate the individuals from the global economic system.

The designations show increasing tensions between the United States and Colombia in light of lethal U.S. strikes on narcotics-laden vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.

Petro, who assumed office in August 2022, has hired a lawyer to represent him in U.S. court.

“Combating drug trafficking effectively for decades brings me this measure from the government of the society we helped so much to stop its use of cocaine,” Petro posted on X on Friday. “Quite a paradox, but not one step back and never on our knees.”

Last month, the United States placed Colombia on a list of countries failing to combat drug trafficking—the first time since 1997 that the South American country has been included.

The State Department will remove Colombia from a list of countries that receive funds from the United States, with spokesman Tommy Pigott saying on social media that the department is “slashing assistance for Colombia,” after much of Colombia’s subsidies were already stopped following massive cuts at the U.S. Agency for International Development earlier in the year.

Pigott said funds to Colombia would be reduced by 20 percent, equivalent to about $18 million.

Trump said at the White House on Wednesday that Petro is “a guy that is making a lot of drugs.”

“He better watch it, or we’ll take very serious action against him and his country,” the U.S. president said.

Prior to the sanctions, Petro posted on social media that he would defend himself in a court of law.

“Against the calumnies that high-ranking officials have hurled at me on U.S. soil, I will defend myself judicially with American lawyers in the U.S. courts,” he wrote on X on Wednesday.

Colombia’s foreign ministry said it would seek support internationally to defend the country’s president against the allegations.

“These accusations represent an extremely serious act and undermine the dignity of the president of Colombians,” it said in a statement on Oct. 19.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.