Trump was right about Petro: Increasing evidence links the Colombian president to drug money

President Donald Trump has said that Gustavo Petro is "is an illegal drug leader" and that he favors "the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields, all over Colombia." More and more evidence is coming to light that the president, the Treasury Department and the State Department are correct in their assessment and actions against the Colombian leader.

This week a Colombian media outlet published an explosive investigation that would prove that the FARC, the main narco-terrorist group in Colombia, has infiltrated the Army, the National Intelligence Directorate and the Attorney General's Office at the highest levels. In addition, the investigation has produced new evidence that Petro's presidential campaign allegedly received money from the FARC.

Such a level of infiltration of drug trafficking and terrorism in the Colombian government already puts the possibility of Colombia being a narco-state on the table. The situation is extremely dangerous for the opposition, since it means that high ranking members of the Army and the National Intelligence Directorate (DNI) use the power of the State to benefit the FARC, among other things, by authorizing permits for members of the narco-terrorist organization to legally move around with weapons. Thus deploying a whole range of possibilities to control, threaten and make attempts against the lives of the opponents of the Colombian Government.

What to say about the risk implied by the fact that the Prosecutor's Office had information about the alleged cooperation between high commanders of the Army and the FARC, and did not act. It is impossible for the opposition to have guarantees when that entity, instead of opening an investigation, seems to ignore these allegations and protect the alleged irregular dealings of the president and the FARC. This serious situation creates a climate of impunity and protection for the narco-guerrillas to act against the opposition.

The matter is also of interest to the United States, and constitutes further evidence that the decision to include Gustavo Petro - and his family - in the Office of Foreign Assets Control's sanctioned list (OFAC) was correct. The Trump Administration has made it one of its priorities to curb the entry of drugs into the United States and Colombia is the world's leading cocaine producer. The Treasury Department claimed that during Petro's tenure "cocaine production in Colombia has exploded to the highest rate in decades."

The Treasury Department has also said that the Colombian president allowed drug cartels to flourish, while "refusing to stop that activity." These claims by the U.S. government were easily substantiated by looking at the increase in cocaine cultivation and Petro's policies. But the new information also poses a much greater challenge, a Colombian government that not only allows drug trafficking but is also infiltrated at the highest levels by drug traffickers, who would even use state resources to advance their criminal agenda.

The evidence

According to Noticias Caracol's investigation, based on documents, chats and emails, General Juan Miguel Huertas, head of the Army Personnel Command, and a high-ranking official of the National Intelligence Directorate, Wilmar Mejía, have allegedly collaborated with FARC fronts led by alias Calarcá. The cooperation is not only limited to the leaking of information but also to the use of official resources to facilitate FARC operations.

General Huertas had been retired from the Army in 2022, he later joined Petro's campaign, who upon becoming president reinstated him in the Army as head of the Personnel Command. General Huertas allegedly had meetings in Bogota with several members of the FARC and even planned the creation of a front company, to which he allegedly obtained permits, to mobilize FARC personnel and weapons.

Another of the most important findings of the investigation is the alleged FARC financing of Gustavo Petro's presidential campaign. According to several chats, the money would have come through Vice President Francia Márquez. Some analysts have suggested that the power of the FARC in the current government is so great that its representation in the administration is directly the vice-president.

Internal messages show another narco-terrorist leader, Ivan Mordisco, saying that there is "evidence" that the 2022 presidential campaign was financed with FARC resources. The published transcript reads as follows: "Everything was done through Francia Márquez."

According to investigations, the Attorney General's Office had access to these files seized from the dissidents, including information on the links between high-ranking state officials and the FARC and the financing of the presidential campaign, but still did not open a formal investigation.

FARC power

Sadly, there is nothing left of the Colombia that managed, with the help of the United States, to almost completely defeat drug trafficking. Years ago, after the signing of the "peace agreement" under the government of Juan Manuel Santos, the FARC achieved a power that not even Pablo Escobar had in Colombia. This agreement gave the members of the narco-terrorist group 10 seats in Congress.

The FARC did not dissemble when it came to appointing senators and representatives; several of its most bloodthirsty leaders now occupy seats in Congress. This is the case of Carlos Antonio Lozada, whom I personally had to confront when he started a legal persecution against me after publishing an article in which I recounted the testimonies of FARC victims who accused him of having raped children in FARC camps. These are the kind of FARC leaders who today are legislators, child rapists who today make the laws in the Colombian Congress and who have the power and have achieved an infiltration of the government at the judicial level to terrorize the press and send threats through their men to anyone who bothers them. Killers like Lozada have even managed to be free and not pay a single day in jail after all the crimes they committed.

The armed wing of the FARC, which some call FARC "dissidents" out of fear and others out of cooperation, handle much of Colombia's cocaine production, while committing terrorist acts, in increasing proportion, to move their political agenda in the country. Recently, the assassination of right-wing presidential pre-candidate Miguel Uribe shocked the world. The Attorney General's Office stated that the evidence collected points to the "Second Marquetalia," one of the FARC groups, as the criminal body behind the assassination.

This week the country has learned, thanks to the investigation of Caracol Noticias, the level of infiltration of the FARC in the most important institutions. Not only do they act as an armed drug trafficking group that commits crimes and terrorist attacks, but they probably have a quota in the presidency, an important presence in the Army, in Intelligence, in the Attorney General's Office and they are also in Congress.

The United States has a self-interest in trying to stop drug trafficking and save millions of Americans, but also its action in the region is invaluable and saves lives in Latin America as well. Had it not been for Plan Colombia and the collaboration with the government of Alvaro Uribe Velez, Colombia would have fallen into the total control of the narco-guerrillas years ago. Today, again, U.S. assistance is critical. President Trump and his administration are not wrong to treat Gustavo Petro harshly, millions of Colombians are grateful.