President Gustavo Petro became the first Colombian president to appear on the list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Department of the Treasury, known as the ‘Clinton List’.
The situation is much more complex than is believed, taking into account that Petro does not appear alone, but his wife also appears, Verónica Alcocer, her son Nicolás Petro Burgos and her current Minister of the Interior, Armando Benedetti.
See more: US officially includes President Gustavo Petro on the Clinton List
Faced with this situation – which increases tensions in bilateral relations with the United States – there are already several reactions that have been known. Minister Benedetti himself indicated in his X account that: “For having defended the dignity of the country and that President Petro is not a drug trafficker, they put me on the OFAC list without me having attacked them. This shows that every empire is unjust and that its anti-drug fight is an arms farce.“.
Furthermore, he said that in this country “Nobody believes the story that I am a drug dealer. I have never entered the house of a single drug dealer. For the US, a non-violent statement is the same as being a drug trafficker. Gringos go home“.
The first lady, Verónica Alcocer; Nicolás Petro, and the Minister of the Interior, Armando Benedetti.
Private file
For his part, the former president of Cemex and former mayor of Bucaramanga, Juan Carlos Cárdenas, stated that “There are indications that Gustavo Petro has links to drug trafficking, which is why they include him on the OFAC list. All his bank accounts, those of him and his family, are blocked in Colombia and the world. The information that the United States must have to make the decision is serious“.
See more: ‘The threat was fulfilled’: Petro on his inclusion on the Clinton list
For his part, Congressman Juan Espinal responded to President Petro and pointed out that his inclusion in such a list was not a threat but rather that “It was the result of his own decisions, Bernie Moreno has done more for Colombians than you. I remind you that it was you who decided to hug Maduro, He insisted on negotiating with PDVSA and let his friends from the Picota Pact get stronger and flood the country with coca. Do not come now to pose as a victim: the American government is seeing what we already knew here: a president allied with the bandits through his failed Total Peace“.
In this regard, Senator Maria Fernanda Cabal stated “that a president of the Republic and the Minister of the Interior are included in the Clinton list means that the United States must have very serious evidence about financial transactions that raise suspicions of money laundering or links to drug money“.
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Furthermore, he said that “ Every time something like this happens, Petro inverts reality and presents himself as a victim; Now, surely, he will say that he is politically persecuted. I ask the president: did five billion pesos (as recorded by the National Electoral Council) go into his campaign or not? Did money from the Aragua Train come in or not? That was the content of the famous WhatsApp audio between Armando Benedetti and Laura Sarabia. There was too much money here and too much complacency with crime“.
On the other hand, Mauricio Lizcano, presidential candidate, maintained that this is a state matter that “seriously harms Colombia. The situation has reached an unsustainable point. Not even former President Samper, during process 8,000, was included in the Clinton List“.
See more: Petro’s wife, his son Nicolás and Benedetti were also included in the Clinton list
Given this, Lizcano suggested to the president that “It is time to urgently convene the Foreign Relations Advisory Commission and ask President Lula, who will meet next week with President Trump, to act as a mediator to help de-escalate this conflict. What is at stake here is presidential dignity and, above all, the dignity of Colombia. It is not only about a president included on a list that includes drug traffickers, but also about the risk that this implies for jobs, investment and relations with the most important power in the world: the United States.“.
VALENTINA DELGADILLO ABELLO
Portfolio Journalist
