The Trump administration accused Maduro of leading one of the world's largest cocaine networks and lambasted Petro for failing in the drug war

The State Department published on Monday its "Presidential Determination on Major Drug Transit or Major Illicit Drug Producing Countries for Fiscal Year 2026," in which itaccused the Venezuelan dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro of commanding one of the world's largest cocaine trafficking networks, and decertified the Colombian government of Gustavo Petro of the fight against drugs by assuring that it failed in the last year to comply with its obligations in this matter.

At the beginning of the statement, the department noted: "By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States; including section 706(1) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 2003 (Public Law 107-228) (FRAA), I hereby identify the following countries as major drug transit or major illicit drug producing countries: Afghanistan, The Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Burma, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela."

In the case of the Venezuelan dictatorship, the Administration of President Donald Trump stressed that it will continue to take action to bring both Maduro and several of the regime's most important figures to American justice, adding that they will also target terrorist groups in Venezuela such as the Aragua Train. "In Venezuela, the criminal regime of indicted drug trafficker Nicolás Maduro leads one of the largest cocaine trafficking networks in the world, and the United States will continue to seek to bring Maduro and other members of his complicit regime to justice for their crimes. We will also target Venezuelan foreign terrorist organizations such as Tren de Aragua and purge them from our country," the State Department detailed.

Accusations against Petro's government

In its statement, the Trump Administration explained that,under Petro's presidency, both cocaine production and coca cultivation have reached "all-time records" in Colombia, and even lambasted the socialist leader's "failed attempts" to "seek accommodations with narco-terrorist groups" that exacerbated the crisis in the Andean country.

"Under President Petro’s leadership, coca cultivation and cocaine production have reached record highs while Colombia’s government failed to meet even its own vastly reduced coca eradication goals, undermining years of mutually beneficial cooperation between our two countries against narco-terrorists. For this reason, I have designated Colombia as having failed demonstrably to meet its drug control obligations. Colombia’s security institutions and municipal authorities continue to show skill and courage in confronting terrorist and criminal groups, and the United States values the service and sacrifice of their dedicated public servants across all levels of government," the State Department commented.

Similarly, the department noted that "Colombia's failure to meet its drug control obligations over the past year rests solely with its political leadership", and announced that Trump will consider changing this designation "if Colombia’s government takes more aggressive action to eradicate coca and reduce cocaine production and trafficking, as well as hold those producing, trafficking, and benefiting from the production of cocaine responsible, including through improved cooperation with the United States to bring the leaders of Colombian criminal organizations to justice."