U.S. sanctions Colombia’s president in an escalation of tensions in Latin America

MEXICO CITY — The United States imposed sanctions on Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Friday and announced it would send a massive aircraft carrier off the coast of South America, a further escalation of what the White House described as a war against drug traffickers in the region. Also on Friday, the US military carried out its 10th strike against a boat suspected of drug trafficking, killing six people in the Caribbean Sea.

The Treasury Department announced it was sanctioning Petro, his wife, his son and a political associate for failing to stop the flow of cocaine to the United States, noting that cocaine production in Colombia had increased in recent years. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accused Petro of “poisoning Americans.”

Petro denied the claims in a statement on X, saying he had been fighting drug trafficking for decades. He said it was “utterly paradoxical” to be sanctioned by a country with high rates of cocaine use.

The sanctions put Petro in the same category as the leaders of Russia and North Korea and limit his ability to travel to the United States. They mark a new low for relations between Colombia and the United States, which until recently were powerful allies, sharing military intelligence, a strong trade relationship and a multibillion-dollar fight against drug trafficking.

Elizabeth Dickinson, senior analyst for the Andes region at the think tank International Crisis Group, said that while Petro and the U.S. government have had disagreements over how to combat trafficking — with the Americans more interested in eradicating coca fields and the Colombians focusing on cocaine seizures — both countries have worked for decades toward the same goal.

“To suggest that Colombia is not making any effort is false and disingenuous,” Dickinson said. “If the United States has a partner in the fight against narcotics in Latin America, it is Colombia. Colombian forces have worked hand-in-hand with the Americans for literally four decades. They are the best, most capable, and frankly most willing partner the United States has in the region.”

“If the United States were to end this relationship, it would effectively be shooting itself in the foot. »

Many saw the sanctions as punishment for Petro’s criticism of Trump. In recent days, Petro has accused the United States of murder, saying U.S. strikes on suspected drug boats had no legal justification and had killed civilians. He also accused the United States of strengthening its military in South America in an effort to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The accelerated pace of U.S. airstrikes in the region and the unusually large buildup of military force in the Caribbean Sea have fueled this speculation.

On Friday, a Pentagon official said the United States had ordered the deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group to the U.S. Southern Command to “enhance the United States’ ability to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that undermine the security and prosperity of the United States.”

The USS Ford is currently deployed in the Mediterranean Sea with three destroyers. It would likely take the ships several days to make the journey to South America.

The White House is increasingly drawing a direct comparison between the war on terrorism declared by the United States after the September 11, 2001 attacks and the Trump administration’s crackdown on drug traffickers.

Trump declared this month that drug cartels were illegal combatants and said the United States was engaged in “armed conflict” with them, relying on the same legal authority used by the Bush administration after 9/11.

When reporters asked Trump on Thursday whether he would ask Congress to issue a declaration of war against the cartels, he said that was not his plan.

“I think we’re just going to kill the people who bring drugs into our country, okay? We’re going to kill them, you know? They’re going to be as good as dead,” Trump said during a White House roundtable with Homeland Security officials.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.