Bogota [Colombia], September 17 (ANI): Colombia has suspended arms purchases from the United States, its largest military partner, after Washington accused the South American nation of failing to curb cocaine trafficking, Al Jazeera reported.
Interior Minister Armando Benedetti announced the decision on Tuesday (local time), following remarks by President Gustavo Petro, who accused the US of attempting to interfere in Colombia’s domestic politics and seeking a “puppet president” ahead of elections next year.
“From this moment on … weapons will not be purchased from the United States,” Benedetti told Blu Radio in an interview.
According to Al Jazeera, US President Donald Trump on Monday decertified Colombia as an ally in the fight against drugs, alleging that the country had allowed cocaine production to rise to “all-time records.” Although the move is largely symbolic, it has added strain to an already tense alliance, which has also seen disputes over the deportation of undocumented migrants to Colombia.
Petro, a former leftist fighter, defended his government’s anti-narcotics policy in a series of posts on X, insisting that more cocaine had been seized under his administration than by previous governments. During a ministerial meeting, he said Colombia “will not be blackmailed” by the US and stressed that he was “not concerned about US aid.”
“We are the ones who help them, because the problem is theirs, not ours,” Petro added, suggesting that Colombia’s military should reduce reliance on US “handouts.”
Al Jazeera reported that US assistance for anti-narcotics operations in Colombia totals about $380 million annually, though it remains unclear how Trump’s delisting will impact these funds.
Responding to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s criticism that he was “erratic” in handling the drug war, Petro countered that bombing civilian boats in Latin American waters was “truly erratic,” referring to Trump’s order to sink two Venezuelan vessels allegedly linked to drug cartels.
“Most of the cocaine that travels by sea leaves in containers from the ports and goes on large ships, not in speedboats,” Petro wrote on X.
Petro has vowed not to let Colombia “kneel” to US interests or allow coca-growing peasants to be “beaten up.” Since taking office in 2022, he has advocated for a shift in the US-led war on drugs, focusing on social issues rather than eradication.
Coca cultivation in Colombia has increased by about 70 percent during Petro’s presidency, according to government and UN figures. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime reported that the area under coca cultivation nearly tripled to 253,000 hectares by 2023.
Writing on X, Petro attributed the growth to global demand, arguing that “the world needs to change its anti-drug policy because it has failed.” He added that cocaine use in the US had only stabilized “because they switched en masse to fentanyl consumption, which is 30 times more deadly.”
Petro has frequently clashed with Trump, rejecting US extradition requests and criticizing Washington’s policies toward migrants and Venezuela. He also severed diplomatic ties with Israel in 2024 over its war on Gaza. (ANI)
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