Bogotá, Colombia – When Donald Trump decertified Colombia as a U.S. drug cooperation partner on September 15, it quickly became clear the move was targeted at one man in particular: Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
The former leftist rebel has clashed with his counterpart on multiple occasions this year, antagonizing Washington with a string of provocations ranging from rejecting deportation flights to joining China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
But in the days after decertification, which analysts see as a politically motivated attack on Petro, tensions between the two governments have escalated precipitously.
What happened with decertification?
Decertification, a cold-war policy designed to pressure drug producing nations to comply with U.S. interdiction and eradication, is nominally applied to an entire country. But in a pair of missives, the White House did not refrain from finger-pointing.
“The failure of Colombia to meet its drug control obligations over the past year rests solely with its political leadership,” wrote Donald Trump in a memorandum to Congress announcing decertification.
In an addendum to the memorandum, which exempted Colombia from sanctions under a “national interest waiver,” the U.S. president left no doubts about who Washington blames for faltering drug control.
“Under the erratic and ineffectual leadership of President Gustavo Petro, coca cultivation and cocaine production and trafficking by narco-terrorist organizations in Colombia has surged to unprecedented levels,” scathed Trump.
Meanwhile, Washington praised the efforts of Colombia’s police and military, careful not to undermine their historic sacrifices for U.S.-prescribed counter-narcotics efforts.
While Petro tried to paint decertification as an insult to the “dozens of deaths of police officers, soldiers, and ordinary people,” in the war on drugs, Trump’s intentions did not escape Colombian media.
“Trump decertifies Petro more than Colombia,” read one headline from La Silla Vacia, a prominent independent online news site.
Petro pushes back
In the hours and days following the announcement, a visibly annoyed Petro lashed out at his U.S. counterpart.
Hours after the news came in, Petro slowly began to note his dissent, contesting that rising demand for cocaine in the United States and Europe is the real culprit – a commonly accepted argument among drug trade experts, who point to decades of failed U.S. policy targeting drug supply.
The next day, Petro turned up the heat by ordering his Interior Minister, Armando Benedetti, to announce Colombia would halt purchases of U.S. arms, which the president said impeded his army’s sovereignty.
The following day, Washington’s Ambassador in Bogotá, John McNamara, fanned the flames by calling on the Colombian government to extradite members of armed groups engaged in negotiations with the government.
Responding to McNamara, Petro wrote on X that he “obeys the Colombian law not the orders of foreign governments.”
The Colombian constitution protects those involved in “advanced” stages of negotiations from extradition.
Later that day, the Colombian statesman personally addressed Trump in a televised speech: “You don’t threaten me. I’ll wait here for you, if you want. I don’t accept invasions, missiles, and assassinations; I accept intelligence. Come here to talk intelligently, and we’ll welcome you and talk one to one with real facts.”
He also criticized Trump’s approach to the war on drugs, saying that the United States’ counter-narcotics strategy over the past 50 years has failed.
Petro’s arguments about the impotence of Washington’s belligerent approach to drug control and the need for alternative strategies are both historically factual and timely, as Trump concentrates military forces in the Southern Caribbean.
However, his unfettered criticism of the most powerful man in the world has frustrated many Colombian commentators, who point to the need for tactful treatment of the famously capricious U.S. President.
But Petro, whose term ends in less than a year, has little to lose as he charts a collision course with Trump.
Featured image description: President Petro addresses decertification in a speech.
Featured image credit: Colombian President’s Office.
