MIAMI (AP) — The Trump administration on Monday added Colombia to a list of nations failing to cooperate in the drug war for the first time in almost 30 years, a stinging rebuke to a traditional U.S. ally that reflects a recent surge in cocaine production and fraying ties between the White House and the country’s leftist president.
Even as it determined that Colombia had failed to comply with its international counternarcotics obligations, the Trump administration issued a waiver of sanctions that would have triggered major aid cuts, citing vital U.S. national interests.
Nonetheless, it is a major step against one of the United States’ staunchest allies in Latin America, and it could further hamper efforts to restore security in the countryside, according to Adam Isacson, a security researcher at the Washington Office on Latin America.
The U.S. last added Colombia to the list, through a process known as decertification, in 1997 when the country’s cartels — through threats of violence and money — had poisoned much of the nation’s institutions.
It “is a blunt tool and a huge irritant in bilateral relations that goes well beyond drug issues and makes cooperation far harder in any number of areas,” Isacson said. “That’s why it’s so rarely used.”
