Why did the US put Colombian President Gustavo Petro on OFAC?

“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,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent following the announcement that Colombian President Gustavo Petro has been placed on the OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) list.

The Treasury Department is absolutely right. Colombia produces between 65% and 70% of the world's cocaine and under Petro's administration has reached the sad record of 300,000 hectares planted and a production of 2,600 tons of pure cocaine hydrochloride. These figures make it clear that Gustavo Petro's behavior vis-à-vis drug cultivation in Colombia represents a threat to U.S. national security and foreign policy, thus earning him a place on the dishonorable list.

"Petro has provided narco-terrorist organizations with benefits. Under President Trump’s leadership, we will not tolerate Colombia trafficking drugs into our nation and poisoning Americans," reads a Treasury Department post. Effectively Colombia's president suspended aerial spraying with glyphosate to eradicate illicit crops and stated that during his administration there would be no more spraying. Petro has used the narrative that drug traffickers are victims or simply humble laborers, and has halted operations by the army to combat the cartels.

The Petro policy towards drugs and cartels has unleashed an outbreak of violence in Colombia the likes of which has not been seen for many years. The narco-terrorist groups FARC and ELN, which were hit hard during the government of former President Alvaro Uribe Velez and thanks to the cooperation of the United States, have now become stronger and act almost freely in Colombia. In addition, they have a dangerous alliance with the Los Soles cartel in Venezuela, through which most of the drugs grown in Colombia leave.

Gustavo Petro has allowed the activity of the narco-terrorist groups also with pacts and negotiations that are public. The president of Colombia has said that he wants to "build a special/binational economic zone" on the border between Colombia and Venezuela, in association with Nicolas Maduro, the head of the Los Soles cartel. In practice such a "zone" already exists, the Colombia-Venezuela border, as a result of government inaction, is largely controlled and managed by the cartels.

In addition to all of the above, millions of Colombians are still waiting for answers and investigations into the financing of Gustavo Petro's campaign for the presidency. Nicolás Petro, the president's son, was arrested in July 2023 by Colombia's Attorney General's Office on charges of money laundering and illicit enrichment. His ex-wife, Daysuris Vásquez, stated that the president's son received money from people with criminal records, including convicted drug trafficker Samuel Santander Lopesierra, alias "El Marlboro," and that the money had allegedly gone to Gustavo Petro's 2022 presidential campaign.

Gustavo Petro's relationship with Los Soles cartel kingpins could also involve financing. Diosdado Cabello, who is the number two in Chavismo and one of the regime's main political operators, has publicly stated that Gustavo Petro asked for support for his campaign in Venezuela. "Now Petro doesn't want to know anything about Chavismo. Here he came once to ask for support for his campaign and now the Chavistas are afraid of him. That's why he lost, because the people despise cowards," Diosdado said.

On top of the actions mentioned here is his incendiary rhetoric against President Donald Trump, even daring to ask the American military, in the middle of the street in New York, to disobey their leader, and more recently in an interview, insinuating that President Trump should be removed from his post. Petro has been accumulating reasons for years for the United States to take action such as including him on the OFAC list.