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| Photo: GOL, protest in support of Petro in Bogotá. |
Colombia is going through an unprecedented crisis in its relationship with the US. It is partly because the Empire is in the hands of a nutcase who is using the drugs issue to pressure the Colombian government. He is not by any stretch the first north American president to do so. The inclusion of Petro in the so-called Clinton List clearly points to what is happening being part of US anti-drugs policy going back a long time.
Trump decertified the country in the war on drugs, specifically the president, Gustavo Petro. His clarification that he was not criticising the police and military forces of the Colombian state but rather the president indicated that other things were in the pipeline and he sought to calm his Uribista allies in the country. Then came the inclusion of Petro, his family and the minister Armando Benedetti in the so-called Clinton List. The irony that Petro, the personal chauffeur of Clinton when he visited Colombia, ended up in that list is hilarious, though it is a serious matter.
First of all, we should be clear as to what that list is. Its official name is not the Clinton List but rather the Office of Foreign Assets Control and it has existed since the 1950s. The name says it all: CONTROL. Clinton lent his name to the programme to pursue drug traffickers. Its mission is:
Whether a leader enters the list or not is not support for or a criticism of his or her moral fibre. It is simply an acknowledgement that their policies are not viewed favourably. They are perceived to be against the policies and interests of the US. Petro, his wife, son and the minister Armando Benedetti were put on the list under the pretext of being related to the drugs business, specifically in the case of Petro of not having prevented or having facilitated the production of cocaine.
Trump decertified the country in the war on drugs, specifically the president, Gustavo Petro. His clarification that he was not criticising the police and military forces of the Colombian state but rather the president indicated that other things were in the pipeline and he sought to calm his Uribista allies in the country. Then came the inclusion of Petro, his family and the minister Armando Benedetti in the so-called Clinton List. The irony that Petro, the personal chauffeur of Clinton when he visited Colombia, ended up in that list is hilarious, though it is a serious matter.
First of all, we should be clear as to what that list is. Its official name is not the Clinton List but rather the Office of Foreign Assets Control and it has existed since the 1950s. The name says it all: CONTROL. Clinton lent his name to the programme to pursue drug traffickers. Its mission is:
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (”OFAC”) of the US Department of the Treasury administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on US foreign policy and national security goals against targeted foreign countries and regimes, terrorists, international narcotics traffickers, those engaged in activities related to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and other threats to the national security, foreign policy or economy of the United States.[1]
Whether a leader enters the list or not is not support for or a criticism of his or her moral fibre. It is simply an acknowledgement that their policies are not viewed favourably. They are perceived to be against the policies and interests of the US. Petro, his wife, son and the minister Armando Benedetti were put on the list under the pretext of being related to the drugs business, specifically in the case of Petro of not having prevented or having facilitated the production of cocaine.
A lot can be said of Petro’s erratic drugs policy, except that he is a drugs trafficker. His policy on drugs is the same failed proposals of all the previous governments, although in his discourse he did speak of changing the prohibitionist paradigm without actually doing anything about it. He has already defended himself regarding the statistics on coca crop expansion, seizures etc. in which he has performed better than the previous government. I do not intend to support his defence, as I do not agree with what it represents in terms of social policy and a real change in paradigm. But in bourgeois terms, between one state and another, Petro is right. He complied with all that was demanded of him by UN treaties and above all the demands of the US government. He is not the first president to be attacked for his supposed or real links to the drugs trade. They did it with Turbay and Samper. Later without accusing him of being a drugs trafficker they got Pastrana to do everything they wanted with the excuse of a war on drugs. Strangely, the one president that they didn’t try to publicly tarnish was Álvaro Uribe Vélez, perhaps the one who is most questioned by Colombian society in the matter.
Drugs policy is now what it always has been, US interference in the internal policies of whatever country they choose and an excuse to invade it, if necessary. Petro is put on a list and the Colombian banks shut down his accounts under orders from a foreign government. The Clinton List places no legal obligations on anyone in the country according to the Constitutional Court,[2] but there is a problem. If the US designates Petro as someone linked to the drugs trade and his bank does not close down his account, that bank could lose its correspondent banking powers in the US and thus lose its right to trade in dollars i.e. the economic death of the bank. It is a question of imperialism. It is not a legal matter. As Petro’s lawyer, Dan Kovalik, explains, Petro has no criminal cases in the US and he intends to defend him as well as taking legal cases against the murder of Colombians on the seas by US state forces.[3] Kovalik has a long record in defending human rights in Colombia. As a lawyer he attempted to bring to trial the directors of various multinationals with a presence in Colombia for the murder of trade unionists, amongst them, Coca-Cola and Drummond.
There is deep seated problem though and it is that in the three years of Petro’s government, other than nice speeches about the prohibitionist paradigm he has not challenged it in practice. In fact, he adopted the discourse on drugs to mainly attack the ELN. He has publicly disagreed with the existence of the so-called Cartel de los Soles, but only to say that he has the revealed truth and it is not that Cartel but rather the International Narcotics Board. Utter stupidity.
Now, as on other occasions, the USA uses the anti-drugs discourse to try and break Latin America. They have been accusing Maduro in Venezuela of being the main drugs pusher in the world, an idea that has penetrated Colombian society and obviously the Nobel Prize Committee that gave the peace prize to the rotten right winger María Corina Machado. Now they move on to Petro. The results may be similar. Trump recently decided to send the USS Gerald Ford, the most modern aircraft carrier the US has to the Caribbean. It is all part of a strategy to justify the invasion of Venezuela and as the right-wing newspaper of the Colombian oligarchy, El Tiempo, points out or desires, Trump is considering the possibility of land attacks in Colombia and Venezuela.[4]
His migratory policy, drugs and trade policies are not that different to other presidents of the country. But as the spoilt brat he is and being a little bit of an idiot, suffering from cognitive impairment he says out loud what has always been said in the corridors of Congress, the club or the board of directors of the multinationals. Petro claims that the problem is not with the US but rather with Trump. Obviously in the current context Trump acts in a very particular manner. But the problem is with the US. The laws Trump uses against Petro have existed for a long time, even before Clinton hired him as his chauffeur, and they will continue to exist under the next government. The USA uses any excuse to justify its foreign policy, be it weapons of mass destruction, chemical attacks, supposed massacres or drugs etc.
The USA has to be fought, not just Trump, its imperialist militarism that we have lived through under all presidents, including the photogenic democrats like Clinton and Obama. The banking system that launders billions each year but closes the accounts of those who have nothing to do with the issue has to be fought.
The entire prohibitionist set up on drugs has also to be fought. If Iván Cepeda becomes the next president, he should take note. Pretty speeches on drugs are of no use. What is of use is an international fight and a break with the war on drugs in order to design new policies on drugs, regardless of what the Whitehouse tenant says.
Drugs policy is now what it always has been, US interference in the internal policies of whatever country they choose and an excuse to invade it, if necessary. Petro is put on a list and the Colombian banks shut down his accounts under orders from a foreign government. The Clinton List places no legal obligations on anyone in the country according to the Constitutional Court,[2] but there is a problem. If the US designates Petro as someone linked to the drugs trade and his bank does not close down his account, that bank could lose its correspondent banking powers in the US and thus lose its right to trade in dollars i.e. the economic death of the bank. It is a question of imperialism. It is not a legal matter. As Petro’s lawyer, Dan Kovalik, explains, Petro has no criminal cases in the US and he intends to defend him as well as taking legal cases against the murder of Colombians on the seas by US state forces.[3] Kovalik has a long record in defending human rights in Colombia. As a lawyer he attempted to bring to trial the directors of various multinationals with a presence in Colombia for the murder of trade unionists, amongst them, Coca-Cola and Drummond.
There is deep seated problem though and it is that in the three years of Petro’s government, other than nice speeches about the prohibitionist paradigm he has not challenged it in practice. In fact, he adopted the discourse on drugs to mainly attack the ELN. He has publicly disagreed with the existence of the so-called Cartel de los Soles, but only to say that he has the revealed truth and it is not that Cartel but rather the International Narcotics Board. Utter stupidity.
Now, as on other occasions, the USA uses the anti-drugs discourse to try and break Latin America. They have been accusing Maduro in Venezuela of being the main drugs pusher in the world, an idea that has penetrated Colombian society and obviously the Nobel Prize Committee that gave the peace prize to the rotten right winger María Corina Machado. Now they move on to Petro. The results may be similar. Trump recently decided to send the USS Gerald Ford, the most modern aircraft carrier the US has to the Caribbean. It is all part of a strategy to justify the invasion of Venezuela and as the right-wing newspaper of the Colombian oligarchy, El Tiempo, points out or desires, Trump is considering the possibility of land attacks in Colombia and Venezuela.[4]
His migratory policy, drugs and trade policies are not that different to other presidents of the country. But as the spoilt brat he is and being a little bit of an idiot, suffering from cognitive impairment he says out loud what has always been said in the corridors of Congress, the club or the board of directors of the multinationals. Petro claims that the problem is not with the US but rather with Trump. Obviously in the current context Trump acts in a very particular manner. But the problem is with the US. The laws Trump uses against Petro have existed for a long time, even before Clinton hired him as his chauffeur, and they will continue to exist under the next government. The USA uses any excuse to justify its foreign policy, be it weapons of mass destruction, chemical attacks, supposed massacres or drugs etc.
The USA has to be fought, not just Trump, its imperialist militarism that we have lived through under all presidents, including the photogenic democrats like Clinton and Obama. The banking system that launders billions each year but closes the accounts of those who have nothing to do with the issue has to be fought.
The entire prohibitionist set up on drugs has also to be fought. If Iván Cepeda becomes the next president, he should take note. Pretty speeches on drugs are of no use. What is of use is an international fight and a break with the war on drugs in order to design new policies on drugs, regardless of what the Whitehouse tenant says.
References
[1] See.
[2] El Heraldo (24/10/2025) Cuentas bancarias del president Petro, su familia y del ministro Benedetti serán congeladas por decision de EE.UU.
[3] El Heraldo (27/10/2025) “No hay ningún proceso judicial en Estados Unidos contra Petro”: abogado Daniel Kovalik.
[1] See.
[2] El Heraldo (24/10/2025) Cuentas bancarias del president Petro, su familia y del ministro Benedetti serán congeladas por decision de EE.UU.
[3] El Heraldo (27/10/2025) “No hay ningún proceso judicial en Estados Unidos contra Petro”: abogado Daniel Kovalik.
⏩ Gearóid Ó Loingsigh is a political and human rights activist with extensive experience in Latin America.
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