The mayors of the country's five largest cities will travel to Washington this Sunday, September 7, in a joint effort to try to prevent Colombia from losing its U.S. certification in the fight against drugs. SEMANA learned that the leaders of Bogotá, Carlos Fernando Galán; Medellín, Federico Gutiérrez; Cali, Alejandro Eder; Barranquilla, Alejandro Char; and Cartagena, Dumek Turbay, agreed to undertake this unprecedented tour in the face of the imminent risk that Washington will decertify Colombia, something that has not happened since the 1990s.

According to US law, each year, no later than September 15, the White House must submit a report detailing the cooperation provided during the previous twelve months by the main countries that produce illicit drugs, or those that are used as routes for their marketing, in the global fight against drug trafficking.

And Colombia is very close to failing that test. Not only because its indicators in the fight against drugs have been mostly poor over the last year, but also because President Gustavo Petro has taken relations with the Donald Trump administration to unprecedented levels of tension.

If a country is decertified, it automatically stops receiving U.S. economic assistance to combat illegal economies. In practice, this means the loss of millions of dollars currently used to fund, among other things, combat helicopter flights and troop deployments to conflict zones.

But that's just the first in a cascade of catastrophic consequences that also includes a Washington blockade of obtaining credit from international organizations, the imposition of tariffs on Colombian exports, and a possible ban on U.S. companies investing in Colombia.

And what do mayors have to do with all of this? Major cities would be the first to be affected by the effects of decertification.

The most dramatic case is that of Cali, the country's third-largest city, which has been suffering the consequences of Colombia's general decline in security, due to the Petro government's erratic policy of total peace.

Cali has already been the victim of three serious attacks, all perpetrated by the Jaime Martínez column of the FARC dissidents. This criminal organization dominates the gigantic, multimillion-dollar cocaine trade in the Jamundí Mountains, just an hour from the urban center of Sucursal del Cielo.

The most serious of these incidents occurred on August 21, when a truck loaded with gas cylinders filled with explosives was detonated against the Marco Fidel Suárez Military Aviation School, in a residential area in the northeast of the city.

Six people died, nearly 80 more were injured, and a vast commercial area was destroyed in the worst attack in Cali in two decades.

Fifteen days later, Valle del Cauca Governor Dilian Francisca Toro and Cali Mayor Alejandro Eder issued a new warning at a security council meeting: they now fear a possible drone attack.

In this context, Mayor Eder has put his finger on the sore spot: the increasing attacks perpetrated by criminal groups throughout the country are due to the national government's unprecedented defunding of military and police intelligence.

For that reason, he said:"It was not possible to detect the trucks that traveled loaded with explosives from Cauca to Cali, nor to prevent the attack that cost the life of presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay."

"If we stop receiving US military aid now due to decertification, this situation will worsen further, and all Colombians will be faced with an uncontrollable threat," he added.

The petitions

The five mayors traveling to Washington will have a busy schedule between September 8 and 9, including meetings with senior State Department officials and members of Congress from the Republican and Democratic parties.

In addition to requesting that Colombia not be decertified, the mayors will propose that cooperation should not be limited to punitive measures, but should be strengthened through actions in the areas of security, economic development, democracy, and migration.

In this regard, they will ask the U.S. government to expand direct police and military cooperation with cities, as well as violence prevention efforts.

Additionally, they will propose a package of actions to promote investment, encourage job creation, and seek partnerships with U.S. companies.

“Mayors represent the local response to the root causes of drug trafficking. Investing in our cities means reducing the risk of decertification, safeguarding the strategic alliance between the United States and Colombia, and consolidating democracy in Colombia,” Eder concluded.