• The U.S. announced sanctions against Colombian President Gustavo Petro and his family for alleged drug trafficking failures.
• Petro has consistently denied involvement in drug trafficking and plans to launch a legal appeal against the sanctions.
• Relations between Petro and U.S. President Donald Trump have severely deteriorated over drug policy and U.S. military actions.
• The sanctions include restrictions on accessing U.S. assets and transactions, marking a new low in U.S.-Colombia relations.
• Petro argues that he has been effectively combating drug trafficking for decades and rejects the U.S. accusations.

The United States has imposed sanctions on Colombian President Gustavo Petro, citing his administration's alleged failure to curb the rampant drug trafficking in Colombia. The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control stated that the sanctions extend to Petro’s wife, son, and Interior Minister Armando Benedetti, effectively freezing their assets in the U.S. and barring them from conducting transactions with U.S. entities. "Since President Gustavo Petro came to power, cocaine production in Colombia has exploded to the highest rate in decades," said U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, indicating serious concerns about the U.S. drug crisis. This move represents a significant escalation in the ongoing feud between Petro and U.S. President Donald Trump, who has threatened cutbacks in bilateral aid as a part of the sanctions announcement, according to AA, BBC, Reuters, and CBS News.

In response to the sanctions, Petro firmly stated, "Not one step back and never on my knees," asserting that his fight against drug trafficking had been effective for decades. He announced plans to contest the U.S. sanctions in the country's courts, emphasizing that he has been working to reduce cocaine consumption in the U.S. and accusing Trump of deploying "extrajudicial executions" against alleged drug traffickers. "Fighting drug trafficking for decades ... has brought this measure from the government of the society we helped so much to curb their cocaine consumption," Petro expressed, according to Latin America Reports, and Al Jazeera.

The sanctions come amidst a backdrop of escalating tensions due to U.S. military actions off Colombia's coast aimed at drug trafficking. The U.S. has been conducting strikes against alleged drug-carrying boats, with officials stating over 40 deaths have resulted from these military operations. Petro has criticized these operations, calling them violations of international law and asserting that innocent lives have been lost. In contrast, the U.S. maintains that these maneuvers target drug traffickers directly involved in the cocaine trade, further straining relations between the two nations, as highlighted by Le Monde, and SCMP.