BOGOTA • Washington's top diplomat wrapped up a trip through Latin America buoyed by support for the United States approach to Venezuela but with a warning against backsliding in the drug war.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's first official foray to the region began badly last week, when his arrival in Mexico was overshadowed by President Donald Trump's latest attack on US allies.
But as he prepared to leave Colombia on Tuesday after six days of visits to Mexico, Argentina and Peru, he had conducted what he described as positive and successful meetings with top leaders.
Latin America's democracies support Washington's opposition to the Venezuelan regime of Mr Nicolas Maduro, whom they accuse of subverting the Constitution to cling to power illegitimately.
And the countries Mr Tillerson visited - whatever Mr Trump may have said about them "laughing at" Washington while pocketing US aid - renewed their pledges of support to fight drug trafficking.
"I don't think that President Trump is referring to Colombia, because Colombia is not laughing at the US," President Juan Manuel Santos said at a joint news conference with Mr Tillerson.
"There would be no supply if there's no demand and no demand if not for supply, and Colombia does not laugh at this very important issue because it's a matter of national security," Mr Santos said. He said no country had suffered more than Colombia during a four-decade war on drugs, which in his country also fed and was fed by civil conflict with leftist rebels.
If Mr Tillerson has had any more success than Mr Trump, with his threats and harsh criticism, in winning over foreign leaders, it may be because he accepts that Washington shares responsibility.
In Colombia, he agreed with Mr Santos that there would be no supply of drugs without the demand of the US market, and in Mexico he acknowledged that smuggled US guns fuel cartel violence.
But while he pushed for and welcomed cooperation, he also left behind a note of caution, warning that as Colombia at last emerges from civil war, its production of cocaine is soaring. "One of the things that's important about this relationship is that we are so close, we can speak openly and frankly about things of concern," Mr Tillerson said, standing alongside Mr Santos.
"The rapid increase in cultivation was an unintended consequence of the peace and - as the president has described it - now it's the long process of reversing those trends."
Mr Tillerson would not be drawn on Mr Trump's threat to cut aid if countries fail to halt the northward flow of drugs, but he warned that "our expectation is that Colombia will make significant progress".
The other main theme of Mr Tillerson's trip was the looming catastrophe in Venezuela, where Mr Maduro is pressing ahead with plans to seek re-election under an electoral system controlled by his regime in a vote that must be held by the end of April. The US envoy received strong backing during the trip for Washington's tough stance on Venezuela. All the capitals he visited have vowed not to recognise Mr Maduro's "illegitimate" poll.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
