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LATIN AMERICA ADVISOR

LATIN AMERICA ADVISOR

A daily publication Of the dialogue

September 26, 2025

What’s the Future of U.S.-Colombia Efforts on Drugs?

The Trump administration last week said Colombia is failing to cooperate on the fight against illegal drugs. Bricks of cocaine are pictured. // File Photo: LRafael via Adobe Stock.

Q

  • The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump on Sept. 15 added Colombia to a list of countries that it says are failing to cooperate on the fight against illegal drugs. The administration also cited U.S. interests in issuing a waiver of sanctions that would have triggered major aid cuts to Colombia. What does the decision mean for Colombia and bilateral efforts to fight drug trafficking, as well as for relations between the two countries more broadly? How well has Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s government performed in combating narcotics trafficking and organized crime? What accounts for the nearly three-fold surge in the amount of land being used for coca cultivation in Colombia that the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime reported over the 10-year period through 2023?

A

Melissa Ford Maldonado, director of the Western Hemisphere Initiative at the America First Policy Institute: “The U.S. decision to decertify Colombia as a drug war partner is an alarm bell at a dangerous turning point. Colombia earned its place as one of Washington’s most trusted allies the hard way, through decades of sacrifice and standing firm against the cartels when few others would. That effort was recognized in 2022, when the United States designated Colombia a Major Non-NATO Ally, a status reserved for countries the United States doesn’t just like, but trusts. That trust is now gone. President Petro didn’t start this decline, but he’s accelerated it. Under his leadership, cooperation with the United States has collapsed, coca cultivation has surged and criminal groups have found political cover. There isn’t a narco-aligned autocrat in the hemisphere Petro hasn’t…”

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