Bogota [Colombia], September 17 (ANI): Colombia has suspended arms purchases from the United States, its largest army associate, after Washington accused the South American nation of failing to curb cocaine trafficking, Al Jazeera reported.
Interior Minister Armando Benedetti introduced the choice on Tuesday (native time), following remarks by President Gustavo Petro, who accused the US of attempting to ‘take part’ in Colombia’s home politics and searching for a ‘puppet president’ forward of elections subsequent 12 months.
‘From this second on … weapons won’t be bought from the United States,’ Benedetti instructed Blu Radio in an interview.
According to Al Jazeera, US President Donald Trump on Monday decertified Colombia as an ally within the combat towards medicine, alleging that the nation had allowed cocaine manufacturing to rise to ‘all-time data.’ Though the transfer is essentially symbolic, it added pressure to an already tense alliance, which has confronted disputes over deportations of undocumented migrants to Colombia.
Petro, a former leftist fighter, defended his authorities’s anti-narcotics coverage in a collection of posts on X, insisting that extra cocaine had been seized below his watch than by earlier administrations. During a ministerial assembly, he declared that Colombia ‘won’t be blackmailed’ by the US, including that he ‘just isn’t involved in regards to the US support.’
‘We are those who assist them, as a result of the issue is theirs, not ours,’ Petro stated, suggesting that Colombia’s army would cut back reliance on US ‘handouts.’
Al Jazeera reported that US help for anti-narcotics operations in Colombia quantities to about $380 million yearly. It stays unclear how Trump’s delisting will have an effect on these funds.
Responding to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s criticism that he was ‘erratic’ in dealing with the drug warfare, Petro retorted that bombing civilian boats in Latin American waters was ‘actually erratic.’ He was referring to Trump’s order to strike two Venezuelan boats alleged to be operated by drug cartels.
‘Most of the cocaine that travels by sea leaves in containers from the ports, and goes on giant ships and never in speedboats,’ Petro wrote on X.
Al Jazeera famous that Petro vowed to not let Colombia ‘kneel’ to US pursuits or enable coca-growing peasants to be ‘crushed up.’ Since taking workplace in 2022, he has advocated a shift within the US-led warfare on medicine, specializing in social points quite than eradication.
Coca cultivation in Colombia has surged by about 70 % below his presidency, in accordance with authorities and UN figures. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime reported that the world below coca cultivation practically tripled to 253,000 hectares by 2023.
Writing on X, Petro attributed the expansion to international demand. ‘The world wants to alter its anti-drug coverage as a result of it has failed,’ he stated, including that cocaine use within the US had solely stabilised ‘as a result of they switched en masse to fentanyl consumption, which is 30 instances extra lethal.’
Petro has usually clashed with Trump, drawing criticism by rejecting US extradition requests and denouncing Washington’s actions towards migrants and Venezuela. He additionally severed diplomatic ties with Israel in 2024 over its warfare on Gaza. (ANI)
