President Donald Trump announced the end of financial aid to Colombia due to its inaction in the fight against drug trafficking, and described his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, as “a drug trafficking leader.”
“The Colombian president Gustavo Petro is a drug trafficking leader who encourages the mass production of drugs, in both large and small fields, throughout Colombia. It has become, by far, Colombia’s biggest business, and Petro does nothing to stop it, despite large-scale payments and subsidies from the U.S.,” Trump stated on Truth Social.
“As of today, these payments, or any other form of payment or subsidy, will no longer be made to Colombia. The purpose of this drug production is the mass sale of products to the United States, causing death, destruction, and devastation,” added the U.S. leader.
Additionally, he threatened that if Petro did not shut down “these extermination fields immediately,” the United States “will shut them down.”
Trump’s statements come a month after the United States removed Colombia from the list of countries fighting drug trafficking, along with four other nations, for having “manifestly failed” in the past year to meet their obligations under international anti-narcotics agreements.
In response, Petro stated that his country’s military forces would no longer depend on U.S. weaponry.
This decision also comes amid the “armed conflict” that the United States recently declared against drug trafficking, which has included the bombing of up to six alleged drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean Sea.
The U.S. deployment in the Caribbean, which began in August under the justification of combating drug trafficking near Venezuela’s coasts, includes the use of aircraft and ships by the North American country.
However, it has caused growing tension between Washington and Nicolás Maduro’s regime, which views the operation as a prelude to a possible attack on the country.
image: DiarioNY
