For first time in decades, U.S. says Colombia is falling short in drug war

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — The United States has decertified Colombia as a drug control partner for the first time since 1997. In a memorandum to Congress, President Donald Trump accused Bogotá of “failing demonstrably to meet its drug control obligations.”

Despite the rebuke, the White House stopped short of imposing sanctions, granting Colombia a “national interest waiver” that preserves U.S. aid and security cooperation.

The move ends months of anxiety in Colombia — where soaring cocaine production has stoked fears of sweeping U.S. sanctions — but nevertheless deals a symbolic blow to a country that has historically been one of Washington’s closest allies in the region.

“What this does is send a message to Colombia about Washington’s dissatisfaction with current coca crop policy and the tensions between Washington and Bogotá,” said Elizabeth Dickinson, a senior Colombia analyst at the International Crisis Group.

Colombia, the world’s largest cocaine producer, is behind a record-breaking year for the global cocaine market, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) most recent annual report, published in June.

It found that from 2022 to 2023 – the most recent year with available data – Colombia’s estimated cocaine yield rose by 50%.

Trump used the decertification announcement to personally criticize Colombian President Gustavo Petro, a former leftist rebel who has been at odds with the White House since a spat over deportation flights in January.

Petro has attempted to stem drug trafficking through crop substitution programs and negotiations with criminal organizations that have enjoyed little success.

“Under the erratic and ineffectual leadership of President Gustavo Petro, coca cultivation and cocaine production and trafficking by narco-terrorist organizations in Colombia has surged to unprecedented levels,” wrote Trump.

Petro fired back, accusing the White House of lying and pointing instead to demand in the U.S. and Europe. “To reduce coca leaf cultivation, what is needed is not glyphosate sprayed from planes, but a reduction in demand,” he wrote on X.

Trump also criticized Petro’s flagship policy of negotiating peace deals with the country’s multifarious armed groups, which he said “took advantage of his naiveté and ideological sympathies.”

Peace negotiations have broadly collapsed in Colombia, leading to an escalation in the conflict between the state and criminal groups which has produced a surge in violent attacks in the past few months.

In recent weeks, Colombian politicians and security officials have visited Washington to lobby top Republicans not to cut military aid to the country, warning such a move could deal a fatal blow to the country’s ongoing offensive against armed groups.

“The message that the Colombian government and particularly the security forces have been trying to convey has reached an audience in Washington,” said Dickinson, adding “there is a security interest of the United States to maintain cooperation.”

In his memorandum to Congress, Trump praised Colombia’s police and military, recognizing their historic cooperation with U.S. security forces and sacrifices made to counter-narcotics efforts.

He also described Colombia as “the closest U.S. ally in the Western Hemisphere against drug cartels and terrorist organizations.”

But Colombia’s security forces may still view decertification as a betrayal, according to Dickinson, especially given increased dangers facing police and soldiers amid Colombia’s deteriorating security situation.

For over 25 years, Washington has been Bogota’s most important ally, providing $14.2 billion in aid since 2000, 64% of which went to Colombia’s military and police, according to the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) a human rights and advocacy organization.

Colombia’s decertification may also damage Washington’s interests in the broader region.

“Waiving the sanctions may have been meant to reduce the sting for Colombians, but the decertification will still raise questions about U.S. reliability as a partner, even for its closest allies in the region,” said John Walsh, Director for Drug Policy and the Andes at WOLA.

In addition to Colombia, the White House also decertified Afghanistan, Burma, Bolivia and Venezuela. Earlier on Monday, Trump announced the second lethal strike this month on an alleged drug vessel outside Venezuelan waters, signalling an increasingly militant approach to counter-narcotics operations in the region.