Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has been named in two separate prison investigations led by prosecutors in the USA.
The New York Instances was the primary to report the existence of the 2 probes on Friday, citing sources aware of the proceedings.
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Media experiences point out that Petro isn’t personally the goal of the investigations, which deal with drug-smuggling in Latin America.
However in line with the Instances, US attorneys in Brooklyn and Manhattan are trying into whether or not Petro met with drug traffickers and solicited donations from them for his 2022 presidential marketing campaign. Al Jazeera has not independently verified the Instances report.
By Friday afternoon, Petro had issued a press release denying the claims, which threaten to reopen the rift between the US and Colombia.
“In Colombia, there’s not a single investigation into my relationship with drug traffickers, for one easy motive: I’ve by no means in my life spoken with a drug trafficker,” Petro wrote on the social media platform X.
He added that he informed marketing campaign managers to by no means settle for donations from bankers or drug traffickers.
The investigations within the US, he argued, would in the end exonerate him, and he blamed Colombia’s right-wing opposition for stirring controversy.
“So, the proceedings within the US will assist me to dismantle the accusations of the Colombian far proper, which is certainly intently linked to Colombian drug traffickers,” Petro stated.
Petro has not been charged with any crimes, and the investigations are of their preliminary levels, in line with the Instances.
However consultants say the timing of the report is important, because it comes barely two and a half months earlier than Colombia is ready to carry a intently watched presidential election on Might 31.
“If this could have occurred every week earlier than the primary spherical, it will be election interference,” Sergio Guzman, director at Colombia Threat Evaluation, a safety suppose tank, informed Al Jazeera.
“This appears to be extra of a warning that reveals how the US may affect the result of the election.”
Petro, Colombia’s first left-wing president, is proscribed to a single time period in workplace, however the election is prone to be a referendum on his 4 years in workplace.
It would even be a take a look at for Petro’s Historic Pact coalition, whose candidate, Ivan Cepeda, is presently main within the polls.
However United States President Donald Trump has repeatedly sought to spice up the prospects of right-wing candidates in Latin America. He and Petro have been at loggerheads since Trump returned to workplace in January 2025.
Their feud got here to a head in January after the US attacked Venezuela and kidnapped its president, Nicolas Maduro.
Shortly afterwards, a reporter requested if the US would take army motion in opposition to Colombia. Trump replied: “It sounds good to me.”
To chill tensions, Trump and Petro held a name afterwards and agreed to satisfy.
Petro then visited the White Home in early February to fix his often-combative relationship with Trump. Whereas there, the Colombian delegation interacted with their counterparts, together with Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Republican Senator Bernie Moreno, a longtime critic of Petro’s authorities, was additionally in attendance. Guzman believes the senator’s presence was vital.
“We don’t have a number of simple solutions about what have been the commitments throughout that assembly, however Bernie Moreno did say that he wished Petro to not be as concerned in elections,” Guzman informed Al Jazeera.
“And guess what? Petro is totally concerned within the elections.”
The assembly additionally addressed collaborative efforts to fight drug trafficking, a problem core to Trump’s overseas coverage.
Each presidents walked away from the assembly in good spirits, with Petro sharing a photograph signed by Trump that learn, “Gustavo – an ideal honor. I like Colombia.”
However Petro and Trump have lengthy been at odds over tamp down on narcotics smuggling.
Colombia, the area’s largest producer of cocaine, has been criticised by the Trump administration for what it sees as soft-on-crime insurance policies, together with negotiations with armed teams.
Petro, in the meantime, has denounced the US for its deadly techniques, calling them tantamount to homicide.
The US, for example, has bombed a minimum of 46 alleged drug boats and vessels within the Caribbean Sea and japanese Pacific Ocean. Among the 159 individuals killed have been Colombian residents.
The US has additionally floated the concept of conducting army assaults in Latin America in opposition to suspected drug traffickers, and it just lately started joint operations in opposition to gangs in Ecuador, Colombia’s neighbour.
Analysts say actions like these have Latin American leaders on edge.
Trump’s aggressive manoeuvres recommend that the US president is keen to jeopardise “the sovereignty and peace of each nation” in his marketing campaign in opposition to illicit medication, in line with Rodrigo Pombo Cajiao, a constitutional regulation professor on the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.
Pombo Cajaio pointed to the US abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on January 3. Maduro was a longtime adversary of Trump, and he’s presently being held in jail in New York on drug-related costs.
“Each political chief within the area has been placed on discover” after that abduction, Pombo Cajiao stated.
“Because the world’s main producer of cocaine, Colombia discovered itself at excessive danger of judicial prosecution” from the US, he added.
At the moment, Petro’s Historic Pact is main Might’s presidential race. A GAD3 ballot launched this week advised Cepeda is forward within the polls with 35 p.c voter approval, forward of far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, who had 21 p.c.
