The Trump administration said Monday that Colombia had “failed demonstrably” in its efforts to combat drug trafficking, but the US will continue to provide funding to the country.
Although the decision to “decertify” Colombia while continuing assistance avoids the worst-case scenario of cutting off millions of dollars in funding, it remains a significant symbolic move.
It is likely to exacerbate the already strained relationship between Washington and Bogota, at a time when the Trump administration has declared countertrafficking a top priority. In recent weeks, the administration has militarized its response, carrying out two deadly strikes on alleged traffickers in international waters off South America.
The presidential determination, released Monday night, stated that, while Colombia has “failed demonstrably” over the past year, US assistance to Colombia “is vital to the national interests of the United States.” It blamed the decertification on Colombian President Gustavo Petro, a vocal critic of US President Donald Trump.
The United States also designated Afghanistan, Bolivia, Myanmar, and Venezuela as having “failed demonstrably” to uphold counternarcotics agreements over the last year.
While Petro has advocated for his country to develop “peaceful alternatives” to coca cultivation rather than prosecuting farmers and small-scale traffickers, the Trump administration has escalated its “war” on traffickers, designating numerous Latin American cartels and criminal organizations as foreign terrorist organizations.
“In Colombia, coca cultivation and cocaine production have surged to all-time records under President Gustavo Petro, and his failed attempts to seek accommodations with narco-terrorist groups only exacerbated the crisis,” according to the decision.
“Colombia’s security institutions and municipal authorities continue to show skill and courage in confronting terrorist and criminal groups, and the United States values the service and sacrifice of their dedicated public servants across all levels of government,” according to the statement. “The failure of Colombia to meet its drug control obligations over the past year rests solely with its political leadership.”
“I will consider changing this designation if Colombia’s government takes more aggressive action to eradicate coca and reduce cocaine production and trafficking, as well as hold those producing, trafficking, and benefiting from the production of cocaine responsible, including through improved cooperation with the United States to bring the leaders of Colombian criminal organizations to justice,” according to the statement.
Petro discussed the news during his weekly televised Cabinet meeting on Monday night.
“The US de-certified us, after tens of deaths among police officers, soldiers and civilians who were trying to impact the trafficking of cocaine,” according to Petro.
Colombia is the world’s leading cocaine producer, accounting for nearly two-thirds of total cocaine production, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Last week, a senior Colombian delegation visited Washington in an effort to be re-certified, emphasizing the two countries’ “strong cooperation” and progress in the fight against drug trafficking.
Gen. Carlos Fernando Triana Beltrán, director general of the Colombian National Police, and Adm. Francisco Hernando Cubides Granados, general commander of the Colombian Military Forces, said they had seized hundreds of metric tons of cocaine and destroyed hundreds of hectares of coca crops.
They stated that Colombia is on the “front line” of the “war” on drugs. They claimed that just a few weeks ago, armed dissidents shot down their State Department-provided helicopter, killing over a dozen police officers and their working dogs.
Colombian Ambassador to the US, Daniel GarcÃa-Peña, stated last week that the country has a national commitment to combating drugs and transnational criminal organizations, despite ideological differences between presidents. “We’re doing this because drug trafficking has impacted our country more than any other in the world, and we’ll keep doing it regardless of what happens. Obviously, we can do much better if we work together.”
Petro has consistently clashed with the Trump administration. Petro, just over a week into Trump’s second term, refused to allow two US military flights carrying deported migrants to land, accusing the US of treating Colombian migrants as criminals. Colombia later agreed to accept the deportees and sent its own planes to assist with their return.
Petro recently criticized Washington’s deployment of several warships in the Caribbean Sea, as well as its fatal strike on an alleged drug vessel, which killed 11 people.
The United States carried out another deadly strike on an alleged drug vessel on Monday, according to Trump.
“If Colombia were de-certified, drug traffickers would win and nations would lose, because we would no longer have the capacity to contain those drugs, and they would arrive on other shores,” Colombia’s defense minister, Ret. Gen. Pedro Sanchez, warned in a CNN interview last week.
Colombia was last decertified in 1997, during the presidency of Ernesto Samper. Since then, the Andean country has emerged as Washington’s most reliable South American ally in terms of national security and defense.
Colombian and US agencies work closely to combat drug trafficking and transnational crime. Colombian officers frequently train alongside US armed forces, and the Colombian army is a major customer of US weapons manufacturers. Historically, the United States has provided Bogota with security assistance worth tens of millions of dollars.
Retired US Ambassador Todd Robinson, who was the top State Department official for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs during the Biden administration, stated that it “would be a really bad signal” if the US and Colombia were unable to maintain their relationship.
Many Colombians oppose the idea that only drug-producing countries should combat trafficking.
Gloria Miranda, in charge of the Colombian government’s crop substitution program, told CNN that “consuming nations must do their fair share and support us, because that is the other face of drug trafficking.”
