Truro News

Trump delivers shock rebuke to Colombia over cocaine surge

- By Joshua Goodman

U.S. President Donald Trump is threatenin­g that he may decertify Colombia as a partner in the war against drugs unless the South American nation reverses a record surge in cocaine production.

The shock rebuke for Washington’s staunchest ally in Latin America came Wednesday in the White House’s annual designatio­n of nations it deems major drug-producing or drug-transit zones.

Colombia, the source of 90 per cent of the cocaine consumed in the U.S., has long been a fixture on the list, which was unchanged from last year. But not since the late 1990s, when contributi­ons from the Cali cartel funded the campaign of Colombia’s then-President Ernesto Samper, has the country’s commitment to fighting narcotics traffickin­g been called into question by Washington.

Twenty-two countries were designated by the U.S. as major drug transit zones Wednesday, and only Venezuela and Bolivia were deemed once again not to be fulfilling their internatio­nal obligation­s to combat drug production and traffickin­g. The leftist government­s of both those nations are hostile to the U.S.

Yet, in a statement, Trump said he “seriously considered” also decertifyi­ng Colombia because of the “extraordin­ary” growth of coca cultivatio­n and cocaine production

to record levels over the past year.

He said he decided against such a designatio­n because the Colombian armed forces are close law enforcemen­t partners with the U.S. He also cited improving interdicti­on rates and the restarting of forced eradicatio­n efforts that were significan­tly curtailed in 2013, when President Juan Manuel Santos prioritize­d reaching a peace deal with leftist rebels heavily involved in the drug trade.

Two years later, Santos ended the aerial spraying of chemicals on illicit crops, a program that had been the backbone of almost two decades and US$10 billion

of U.S. counter-narcotics work in Colombia. But Trump warned that he would keep decertific­ation as an “option” and expected Colombia to make “significan­t progress” in reducing coca cultivatio­n and cocaine production.

Santos’ government said no other country has paid such a high price in terms of the loss of human life combatting drugtraffi­cking as Colombia but other countries, especially consuming nations like the U.S., need to do more to attack the problem as well. It said Colombia seizes 44 tons of cocaine for every ton that the U.S. has interdicte­d on its southern border with Mexico.

 ?? AP PHOTO ?? President Donald Trump smiles as he listens to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos speak during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington.
AP PHOTO President Donald Trump smiles as he listens to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos speak during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington.

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