Colombia and U.S. Discuss Improving Drug Interception at Sea, More Intel Sharing on Drug Trafficking

Colombia's President Gustavo Petro and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed catching more drugs at sea and more intelligence sharing on drug trafficking on Monday.

Dev Discourse reported that Petro, a leftist and former rebel, welcomed Blinken to Bogota but derided the war on drugs by the U.S. as a failure and called for a new global strategy.

After their discussion, Petro said in a press conference that the top priority was to stop the drugs flowing out of Colombia and pursue individuals running the drug trade, whom he believed were more likely not in Colombia's jungles but in Bogota, Medellin, Miami, and New York.

For his part, Blinken noted that they talked about "doing more in terms of interdicting drugs that are moving on the seas by boat" and enhancing intelligence sharing "to go after those who are responsible for drug trafficking."

He said approaches of Colombia and the U.S. to drug trafficking were "largely in sync" and that Petro had "concrete ideas on the table" during the discussions. Blinken is currently on a week-long trip to Colombia, Chile, and Peru, which all have new leftist leaders.

Colombia and U.S. on Extradition of Drug Traffickers

Gustavo Petro continually criticized Colombia and Washington's extradition deals for drug criminals.

He has suggested that traffickers who abide by government surrender requirements and give up their trade not be extradited to foreign jurisdictions to answer for their crimes.

But Antony Blinken retorted that extradition between the two nations has helped the victims of transnational crime and the legal system, U.S. News reported.

"It's one important tool to help dismantle the transnational criminal organizations that do so much damage to both of our societies. And we'll continue to work closely together on this," Blinken said.

According to Petro, Cuba's continued presence on the U.S. list of states that support terrorism was unfair. He criticized the no change on the decision to put Cuba back on the list by former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Cuba served as the venue for peace talks between the now-demobilized FARC militants and the administration of former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.

"That is called an injustice, and while, in my opinion, it isn't up to us, it should be corrected," Petro said.

Drug Smuggling in Colombia

Peru, Bolivia, and Colombia are the world's top cocaine producers, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)'s World Drug Report 2021.

The 2021 International Narcotics Control Strategy also said Colombia is the largest producer, shipping cocaine by sea to Europe and North America.

Colombia is responsible for growing coca bush and making cocaine in two-thirds of the world's land area. This is a problem for ship owners and operators who leave Colombian ports.

In 2021, the Colombian Navy caught 403 tons of illegal drugs, more than it had ever seen before.

The rip-on/rip-off technique, which has gained popularity, involves drug traffickers breaking open legal export containers to ship the drugs and using fake customs seals to hide the tampering. This technique avoids profiling.

The government has put scanners in ports in response to the rise of these drug trafficking methods. These scanners are reportedly placed randomly because of risk profiling.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

Watch: Colombian President Meets With the US Secretary of State - From TeleSUR English