If the United States withdraws the certification to Colombia as an ally in the anti -drug struggle, “drug traffickers and “Loss nations”, The Colombian Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez warned in an interview with the AFP.
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Before September 15, Donald Trump’s government must decide if he continues to provide the multimillionaire support that gives Colombian military forces to combat cartels and guerrillas that are financed with cocaine traffic.
The decision will take place at a time when Washington hardens pressure against Latin American countries so that Frenen drug flow to the United Statesand when Colombia crosses its worst security crisis in a decade, with multiple attacks, record narcoculture figures and death, after a shooting attack, from an opposition senator who aspired to the presidency.
All this occurs in a context of diplomatic tension between Trump and his Colombian counterpart, the leftist Gustavo Petro. Strong critic of the policies of the Republican president, Petro recently questioned US military deployment in the Caribbean To fight drug trafficking, an offensive also rejected by Venezuela.
The AFP accompanied Sanchez on Friday in a tour of the conflicting department of Putumayo, at the border with Ecuador. The head of the defense portfolio started with a blade coca plants, the main component of cocaine, Together with peasants who joined an official eradication program.
Upon return, the 53 -year -old withdrawal from the Air Force, said that an eventual loss of Colombian anti -drug certification by the United States would mean a triumph for mafias. “The illegal won, nations lose. Certification is somehow a symbol of cooperation, alliance, of trust, but also of capacities, of an important support so that we can act more with greater forcefulness”he said.
Since he came to power in 2022, The Petro government defends a paradigm shift in the anti -drug war, which considers failed, and bets to attack the social causes that feed conflict and drug trafficking. “We have (…) a totally quiet consciousness of having delivered absolutely everything. Here is an absolute commitment,” Sánchez said. “Colombia maybe it is one of the countries that with greater forcefulness, integrality, attacks drug trafficking. (…) It is perhaps the most dead country”he added.
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Drugs
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‘Chemotherapy’
Dozens of uniformed, three helicopters and a member of the army equipped with a rifle capable of Tumbar Drones guarded the minister during his visit to Villagarzón, a municipality of Putumayo. On Wednesday, a farmer allegedly linked to a guerrillas that negotiates peace with the government tried to burn alive to two soldiers who performed an anti -drug operation In this place and are seriously injured.
Experts indicate a deterioration of security in Colombia due to Petro’s decisions about the actions of the Armed Forces and their policy of negotiating peace with some groups. For Sánchez, violent acts respond to the persecution of public force and anti -drug operations. “When one fights cancer (drug trafficking) and applies chemotherapy (…) there is an answer”, affirmed.
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Drug trafficking
Photo: Istock
‘Water Water’
Drones attacks against the public force and the civilian population are increasingly lethal and sophisticated, acknowledged the minister, in line with complaints from international organizations. “Technology changes very fast and we have to get anticipated to the threat “said. The Colombian State still does not use combat drones against illegal armed groups, but Sanchez said the systems were improved to avoid artisanal explosives released from commercial drones.
In the last month and a half “They have been inhibited” 802 attacks of this type. But the public force needs greater budget to strengthen its weapons, aircraft and intelligence teams, he emphasized. “If we want security, then we have to invest in security. They do not ask us to end cancer with warm water cloths”said.
Colombia has about 22,000 guerrillas and drug traffickers, according to military intelligence calculations. The government’s peace project with armed groups has not decreased military offensive, well “The order is to use all forcefulness” Against them, Sánchez said.
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AFP
