The US Treasury Department has imposed sanctions against Colombian President Gustavo Petro, his family, and Colombian Interior Minister Armando Benedetti.
Friday’s decision marks a significant escalation in the ongoing feud between left-wing Petro and his American counterpart, right-wing Donald Trump.
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In a statement, the U.S. Treasury Department accused Petro of failing to rein in Colombia’s cocaine industry and allowing criminal groups to escape accountability.
The Treasury Department cited Petro’s “complete peace” plan. The plan aims to end Colombia’s 60-year-old internal conflict through negotiations with armed rebel groups and criminal organizations.
“Since President Gustavo Petro took power, cocaine production in Colombia has surged to the highest levels in decades, flooding the United States and addicting Americans,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
“President Petro has allowed drug cartels to flourish and has refused to stop this activity.”
Mr. Petro, a prolific user of social media, quickly countered that the Treasury Department’s decision was the culmination of years of Republican threats from critics of the presidency, including Sen. Bernie Moreno.
“Bernie Moreno’s threat has indeed been fulfilled,” Petro wrote on social media platform X. “My wife, children and I are now on the OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) list.”
He argued that his country had “effectively combated drug trafficking for decades” and indicated he intended to challenge the sanctions in the U.S. court system.
Peter vowed not to back down, writing, “I will never take a step back, and I will never kneel.”
With Friday’s designation, Petro joins a relatively small group of top international leaders that the United States personally sanctions.
Examples include Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was sanctioned for human rights abuses, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who faced economic restrictions following his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
But the sanctions against Petro, a leftist leader and former rebel, come as the left-wing leader and former rebel is in the twilight of his term as president. He is scheduled to resign in 2026 due to term limits.
Petro is considered the first left-wing president in Colombia’s modern history.
It is also the latest action taken by the Trump administration against one of its most prominent critics in Latin America.
history of conflict
The feud between Petro and Trump began shortly after the US president returned to the White House for his second term on January 20th.
Mr. Trump moved quickly to fulfill his campaign promise to deport large numbers of illegal immigrants from the United States.
Videos of shackled migrants being forced onto a US military plane quickly made international media headlines. Petro was among those who expressed anger on social media.
In the early hours of January 26, he threatened to refuse to accept two deportation flights from the United States. “The United States cannot treat Colombian immigrants as criminals,” he wrote on social media.
President Trump threatened to impose 30% tariffs, and Petro complied.
But the two sides remain at odds over a wide range of issues, from immigration to human rights to how Colombia should curb illicit cocaine production.
The South American country remains the world’s largest source of coca, the leaf that can be processed into cocaine. Last year, the United Nations reported that Colombia recorded its 10th consecutive year of growth in cocaine production, with a 53% increase compared to 2022, when the Petro government took office.
But as President Trump wields his power overseas, particularly in Latin America, he is increasingly leaning toward fighting drug trafficking.
For example, he has used the threat of higher tariffs on U.S. imports to pressure other countries, including neighbors such as Canada and Mexico, to fight drug smuggling.
Conflict over military attack
Since September 2, President Trump has responded to his threats with military action, launching a series of deadly missile attacks against shipping in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean.
President Trump said the targets were drug traffickers. But Petro claimed the strike amounted to extrajudicial killings.
Colombian leaders highlight cases like that of fisherman Alejandro Carranza, who reportedly died during one of the strikes. The bombing killed at least 34 people, including Colombians.
“These are not victims of war,” Petro wrote in one social media post on Friday, just before the sanctions were announced. “Those are murders.”
Petro took up that message at the United Nations in New York in September, condemning the Trump administration’s actions.
“Our violent war on drugs has been a failure, so we replaced it with effective anti-trafficking policies,” Petro told international organizations.
“Was there really a need to fire missiles at unarmed, poor young people in the Caribbean? War-on-drug policy is aimed at stopping cocaine coming into the United States. War-on-drug policy is aimed at controlling the entire population of the South.”
Later, Petro was seen rallying on the streets of New York City with pro-Palestinian demonstrators opposing Israel’s war in Gaza.
Within hours, the Trump administration revoked Petro’s visa “due to his reckless and inflammatory behavior.” The government has previously likened such demonstrations to “terrorism.”
That same month, the administration also decertified Colombia as a partner in the United States’ ongoing “war on drugs.”
cut off aid to colombia
Since then, relations between Trump and Petro have only grown more strained.
Just this week, President Trump announced on his platform Truth Social that he was cutting off all aid to Colombia, the largest recipient of US funds in South America. In fiscal year 2023 alone, Colombia received more than $743 million in aid from the United States.
President Trump also warned that the United States could take a more active role in Colombia if Petro does not take more steps to disrupt the cocaine trade.
“Petro, an unpopular and highly unpopular leader who is new to America, had better shut down these murder scenes immediately, or America will shut them down for him, but that won’t work,” Trump wrote in an Oct. 19 post.
This was a threat that President Trump would repeat a few days later, on October 22, in a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
President Trump said of Petro: “He better wait or we will take very serious action against him and his country.” “He led the country into a death trap.”
In response, Petro threatened to sue President Trump for defamation. U.S. leaders have called Petro a “drug dealer,” a “thug,” and a “bad guy.”
Bickering between the two presidents has strained diplomatic relations between the two countries, and Colombia recently recalled its ambassador from Washington, DC.
But traditionally, Colombia has been one of the United States’ greatest allies in the region and a key partner in efforts to combat drug trafficking.
Friday’s sanctions freeze any property Mr. Petro, his family and Interior Minister Benedetti may have in the United States. It prohibits U.S.-based companies from doing business with sanctioned parties.
Mr. Benedetti called the sanctions a form of retaliation in defense of Petro.
“For America, nonviolent statements are the same as drug traffickers,” he wrote in the post. “Gringos, welcome home.”
