Trump criticises Petro as Colombia is added to list of rogue nations over drugs

The US has “decertified” Colombia as a partner in the war on drugs amid the biggest cocaine boom in history.

The move is likely to hit foreign investment, multilateral funding and tourism, as a long-time ally of Washington now finds itself in the same rogue category as Afghanistan, Bolivia, Myanmar and Venezuela. 

“The US is decertifying us,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro said in a televised Cabinet meeting on the evening of Sept 15. “After dozens of deaths, police, soldiers, common people, trying to avoid cocaine from getting to them.”

Colombia has been among the biggest recipients of US aid this century, receiving about US$14 billion (S$17.9 billion), including military assistance to battle drug cartels and Marxist insurgents.

However, relations between US President Donald Trump and Colombia’s leftist President quickly soured, with the two leaders having very different approaches to the war on drugs, migration and relations with Venezuela. 

Mr Trump, in a presidential determination, laid blame for the move with Mr Petro, faulting Colombia’s government for not stopping the production increases as well as Mr Petro’s “failed attempts to seek accommodations with narco-terrorist groups”.

“The failure of Colombia to meet its drug control obligations over the past year rests solely with its political leadership,” Mr Trump said.

The White House stopped short of requiring that US aid be halted.

However, the decision could potentially slash tourism revenue by as much as US$1 billion per year if the US were to intensify its travel warnings for Colombia, according to a study by the Colombian-American Chamber of Commerce published in August. 

It could also lead to reduced bilateral cooperation, a fall of as much as 60 per cent in access to credit from multilateral lenders, and might spook foreign investors, the study found. 

Even so, the economic damage is limited by the fact that US aid is no longer as significant for Colombia as it was at the start of the century, according to Mr Adam Isacson, who studies US-Colombia policy at the Washington Office on Latin America, a research and advocacy organisation. 

Since taking office in 2022, Mr Petro has sought “total peace” through negotiations with guerrillas and the private armies of drug traffickers. The strategy has so far failed to yield significant demobilisations, though talks are far advanced with some groups. 

Colombia now produces more than six times as much cocaine as it did in 1993, the year when Pablo Escobar was gunned down. The cultivation of coca bushes in Colombia rose 10 per cent in 2024 to 253,000ha – enough to produce more than 2,600 tonnes of pure cocaine, which is far more than the output of Peru and Bolivia combined. 

Mr Trump said he would be willing to consider changing the designation if Colombia shifted to a “more aggressive” posture against drug traffickers including working with the US to “bring the leaders of Colombian criminal organisations to justice”. BLOOMBERG