Colombian President Gustavo Petro stated this Friday 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 and 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.
The president then added:"It's a matter of national discussion. I'm not going to comment yet, but national sovereignty exists, and I prefer to talk and coordinate rather than impose. That can't be imposed."
Trump's order
Petro's statements come 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.
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 on foreign soil against cartels.
According to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the US military high command has already begun developing plans on how to carry out these actions.
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The decision to attack these groups would be part of Trump's fight against the trafficking of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that, according to Washington, is produced mainly 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 Clan del Golfo, the most powerful armed group in Colombia and currently in talks with the Petro Government.
Peace"cannot be imposed"
In his speech from Córdoba, Petro emphasized the need to discuss"whether it is possible in Colombia to peacefully dismantle drug trafficking so that there is peace."
But the leftist leader 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 dead murdered in Latin America (due to drug trafficking), a war."
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 accounts for 253,000 of the 376,000 hectares of coca leaf crops in the world, or two-thirds.
Drug trafficking and other illicit economies such as illegal mining and logging are the main source of financing for illegal armed groups in the Andean country, including the Gulf Clan and guerrilla groups such as the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the FARC dissidents.
