According to OFAC, headed by Scott Bessent, the sanction against the Colombian president is “for his role in the illicit global drug trade.”
The US Treasury Department announced this Friday that Gustavo Petro, president of Colombia, was sanctioned “for its role in the illicit global drug trade”directly accusing him of having links to international drug trafficking organizations. Was included in the OFAC list (Department of the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of the Treasury) (OFAC, for its acronym in English).
“OFAC appoints Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego, the president of Colombiain accordance with the powers related to the fight against drug trafficking“explains the US Treasury statement.
In addition to the sanction to the president, there were also sanctions of the same type for his wife Verónica Alcocer and his son Nicolás. The Minister of the Interior of Colombia Armando Benedetti was also included. Some regional media read the sanctions as another move of international politics. Donald Trump, in the southern Caribbean.
In the statement, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent explained that “Since President Gustavo Petro came to power, cocaine production in Colombia has skyrocketed to the highest rate in decadesflooding the United States and poisoning Americans.”
Gustavo Petro’s response after the US Treasury sanctions
For its part, Peter he quickly responded in a post on X, saying that he had hired an American lawyer and that he intended to fight the sanctions.
Last Wednesday, Trump had already accused to the president of Colombia, to be “a bully” and “a bad guy” that manufactures “many drugs”in statements that revived the tensions between both governments after the suspension of US financial aid to the South American country.
The Minister of the Interior of Colombia, Armando Benedetti, He also criticized the sanctions in a post on X, writing that “I have never entered the house of a single drug dealer.”
“For the US, a non-violent statement is the same as being a drug trafficker,” Benedetti added. “Gringos, go home.”
Source: Ambito
