US sanctions Colombia’s president, Trump teams up with MAFIA: Petro

The U.S. on Friday imposed sanctions on Colombian President Gustavo Petro, as President Donald Trump sharply escalated a feud with Washington’s longtime Latin American ally over accusations that Petro has refused to stop the flow of cocaine into the United States. Tensions between Washington and many countries in the region have been mounting for weeks. The U.S. military has ratcheted up activity in the southern Caribbean, striking vessels in international waters that it has alleged without evidence are carrying drugs. Trump called Petro an “illegal drug leader” after the leftist president accused the U.S. of committing “murder” with the strikes.

Petro, whose term will end in 10 months, has always opposed the strikes. He has attempted to end Colombia’s six-decade conflict through peace and surrender deals with rebels and crime gangs, but those efforts have borne little fruit. “Since President Gustavo Petro came to power, cocaine production in Colombia has exploded to the highest rate in decades, flooding the United States and poisoning Americans,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “President Petro has allowed drug cartels to flourish and refused to stop this activity. President Trump is taking strong action to protect our nation and make clear that we will not tolerate the trafficking of drugs into our nation.” “What the U.S. Treasury says is a lie,” Petro said on X on Friday afternoon. “My government did not increase cocaine, it did the opposite, my government has seized more cocaine than in the whole history of the world.”

Trump teams up with 'Colombian MAFIA' — President Petro pic.twitter.com/pCDKSSOPL6

— RT (@RT_com) October 25, 2025

Petro, who first rose to prominence as a senator by exposing links between some of his fellow lawmakers and paramilitary groups involved in cocaine trafficking, earlier called the sanction “a complete paradox”. He said he had hired a U.S. lawyer to defend him and spoke to thousands of supporters in central Bogota on Friday evening, saying he has no money in the United States.

Petro’s wife and son as well as Armando Benedetti, Colombia’s interior minister, were also hit with sanctions on Friday under the authority that allows Washington to target those it accuses of being involved in the global illicit drug trade. Petro also had differences with Trump’s Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, sometimes criticizing the U.S. for not taking enough responsibility for dealing with Americans’ demand for illegal narcotics.