President Gustavo Petro stated that "national sovereignty exists", in response to the secret order that, according to The New York Times, US President Donald Trump signed instructing the Pentagon to use military force against drug cartels in Latin America.
"Trump is already saying that he is sending his planes to bomb and we have to think about what we are going to do because then he is going to come to bomb Colombia. We are not going to do it because children were already being killed under the bombs, and now he is going to come?", said Petro during the delivery of 6,500 hectares of land to farmers in the Caribbean department of Córdoba.
(See: Petro affirms that Nicolás Maduro helps combat drug trafficking on the border).
Immediately afterwards, the president added:"A problem of national discussion. I am not going to pronounce yet, but national sovereignty exists and I prefer to talk and coordinate than to impose. That cannot be imposed".
Trump's order
Petro's statements were made on Friday, August 8, after The New York Times revealed the existence of a secret order signed by Trump against drug cartels in Latin America, which would be the most aggressive measure adopted to date by his administration.
(See: The offers being made to the United States to avoid tariffs).
According to the New York newspaper, the presidential order would provide a legal basis for the US Armed Forces to carry out direct and unilateral military operations in foreign territory against the cartels.
Even according to sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the US military high command has already begun to draw up plans on how to carry out these actions.
(See: Government advances in its intention to 'pave the way' to acquire Monómeros).
The decision to attack these groups would be part of Trump's fight against fentanyl trafficking, a synthetic opioid that, according to Washington, is mainly produced by Mexican cartels using chemicals from China and trafficked to the United States, which is suffering a serious crisis of deaths from overdoses of that substance.
In February, the Trump government declared several Latin American cartels as terrorists, but none Colombian, although shortly before The New York Times had revealed a list that included the Gulf Clan, The most powerful armed group in Colombia and currently in talks with the Petro government.
Peace 'cannot be imposed'
In his speech, Petro stressed the need to talk about"whether it is possible in Colombia to peacefully dismantle drug trafficking so that there is peace." But the president insisted that this dismantling "cannot be imposed. We already know, we have been in the same situation for 50 years, 50 years and a million people have been killed in Latin America (by drug trafficking), a war." (See: ). Colombia is the world's leading producer of cocaine and, according to the latest annual report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), it concentrates 253,000 of the 376,000 hectares of coca leaf crops in the world, that is, two-thirds. Drug trafficking and other economies Illegal activities such as mining and logging are the main source of funding for illegal armed groups in the South American country, including the Gulf Clan and guerrilla groups such as the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the FARC dissidents.
