Reuters. Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Friday (October 24) that U.S. President Donald Trump has chosen "the mafia" as an ally, speaking at a massive rally after the Trump administration sanctioned him, alleging he refused to stop the flow of cocaine into the United States.
Petro addressed thousands of supporters gathered in Plaza de Bolivar in downtown Bogota during a rally called a week earlier to support a constituent reform effort.
Following the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions, the rally's focus shifted to Colombia–U.S. relations.
Petro disputes the basis for the U.S. allegations, saying his government has seized cocaine at unprecedented rates and that expansion of coca crops - the base ingredient for cocaine - has slowed every year since 2021.
The president said Colombian opposition politicians and businessmen sought U.S. support to sanction him, calling them "the mafia."
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 this week 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.
OFAC sanctions mean that a designated person's property and interests in property within the United States are blocked. All transactions by U.S. persons, or within the United States, involving any property or interests in property of the designated person are prohibited.
