The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, proposed a regional alliance between his country, Ecuador and Venezuela to confront drug trafficking and its effects on citizen security in a coordinated manner.
The initiative was published on his social media account, in response to the increase in violence in the Ecuadorian Pacific, which the president attributed to the effective controls on the Colombian coast.
The proposal seeks to strengthen bilateral cooperation and avoid the militarization of the anti-drug fight.
Official publication and regional context
In his message, Petro stated:
“This growth in violence on the Ecuadorian Pacific coast has to do with the difficulty of getting cocaine through the Colombian Pacific that the Government and our Public Force have achieved.”
The declaration coincides with a week marked by explosions on roads and bridges in southern Ecuador, according to local media reports.
Petro did not offer operational details, but reiterated his willingness to collaborate with the Ecuadorian Government on a joint strategy.
However, through a video published on his Instagram account, Petro presented an analysis of satellite maps detailing coca crops in Colombia for 2023. The analysis showed that, of the 252 thousand hectares of coca, almost 50% of the total area has been abandoned for three years, which he described as a “trap.”
Reactions and background
The proposal is part of a series of recent statements by the Colombian president, who has criticized the United States military approach in the Caribbean and has defended an anti-drug policy focused on prevention, public health and rural development.
In previous statements, Petro also mentioned that this regional alliance would seek to stop cocaine trafficking to Europe.
The president has insisted that “missiles are not needed” to combat drug trafficking, in reference to the bombings ordered by US President Donald Trump against vessels in the Caribbean.
Bilateral cooperation under debate
Petro’s proposal opens the door to a new stage of cooperation between Colombia and Ecuador, two countries that share an extensive land and maritime border, and that face common challenges in terms of security, migration and organized crime.
So far, the Ecuadorian Government has not issued an official response, but political and social sectors have positively valued the possibility of a joint strategy that avoids military escalation and prioritizes the civilian approach in the fight against drug trafficking.
“You are rude and ignorant about Colombia”
The Colombian president addressed another message to his American counterpart, Donald Trump, who accused him of “being a leader of illegal drug trafficking” and threatened to intervene “in an unkind way” in the Latin American nation, presumably to combat drug trafficking.
“Mr. Trump, Colombia has never been rude to the United States, on the contrary, it has loved its culture very much. But you are rude and ignorant to Colombia. Read, as your chargé d’affaires in Colombia did, One Hundred Years of Solitude, and assured you that you will learn something from loneliness,” he wrote through social networks.
The Colombian Foreign Ministry condemned “the offensive and discrediting statements” directed at Petro and denounced that it is a threat to national sovereignty by the US president.
