US imposes sanctions on left-wing Colombian president Gustavo Petro

[ad_1] The US has positioned sanctions on Colombia's President, Gustavo Petro, accusing him of failing to curb drug trafficking and permitting cartels to "flourish".

The choice is the newest in a rising diplomatic dispute between the Latin American nation's first left-wing chief and his US counterpart Donald Trump.

The 2 have clashed over US strikes on boats it says are getting used to smuggle medicine, killing dozens together with some Colombian nationals. Trump has mentioned different nations had did not cease the boats, whereas Petro has accused him of "homicide".

Colombia was as soon as a detailed ally of Washington's battle on medicine, receiving tons of of thousands and thousands of {dollars} yearly in navy help to counter drug gangs.

The US additionally trains Colombian narcotics brokers - one thing the Trump administration has mentioned it should proceed to assist.

However in its sanctions choice, it singled out Petro as having presided over a "disastrous and ineffective" drug coverage that had led to a big improve in cocaine manufacturing.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent mentioned that since Petro got here to energy, cocaine manufacturing in Colombia had "exploded to the very best charge in many years, flooding the US and poisoning Individuals".

Sanctions have additionally been imposed on Colombia's Inside Minister Armando Benedetti, in addition to Petro's spouse and eldest son.

All are barred from accessing property and any properties they could have within the US.

Petro responded that he had been preventing drug trafficking "for many years" and that his administration had stemmed the expansion of coca crops.

"What the US Treasury is doing is an arbitrariness typical of an oppressive regime," he mentioned.

Cocaine manufacturing is at present at record-high ranges in Colombia, in keeping with researcher Héctor Galeano from the Colombia-based Institute of Superior Social and Cultural Research of Latin America and the Caribbean.

The US Treasury mentioned that cocaine from Colombia was usually bought by Mexican cartels, which then smuggle it into the US.

The US says it's eradicating Colombia's certification as an ally within the battle on medicine, which grants it entry to monetary assist. Colombia responded that it might stop shopping for weapons from the US.

Petro has insisted that it was throughout the federal government of his predecessor, Iván Duque, that the world planted with coca had elevated.

He has additionally mentioned that, to ensure that coca cultivation to lower, what was wanted was for demand for cocaine to go down within the US and in Europe.

His major makes an attempt to curb drug-related criminality in Colombia have centred on facilitating peace negotiations between warring cartels which have for many years introduced violence to the nation.

His marketing campaign promise of bringing "complete peace" to Colombia seems to be collapsing, with mounting assaults and stalled negotiations.

Petro advised BBC Information in September air strikes on alleged drug vessels within the Caribbean had been an "act of tyranny".

He used a speech on the UN in New York across the identical time to argue the assaults weren't about controlling the drug commerce however serving a necessity to make use of "violence to dominate Colombia and Latin America".

Imposing sanctions on a head of state is uncommon however not unprecedented. The leaders of nations together with Russia, North Korea and Venezuela have beforehand been sanctioned.