Petro’s Backfiring Policies Imperil Two Decades of Colombian Progress
By U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL)
On May 6, the Colombian terror group National Liberation Army (ELN) once again lifted its suspension on kidnapping because the Colombian government would not bend to its absurd demands. It is the final death knell in Bogotá’s “Total Peace” plan to appease drug traffickers and narco-terrorists. More broadly, it is the last straw for anyone who thought Colombian President Gustavo Petro could be trusted with power.
Petro, a former M-19 guerilla member, campaigned for the presidency on a platform of increased equality and justice. The biggest winners since his 2022 election, however, have been drug dealers, human traffickers, and terrorists. Now, as the president reneges on his campaign promises and prepares to rewrite the Colombian constitution in his favor, his backfiring policies imperil two decades of progress toward stability.
From the 1970s to the early 2000s, Colombia was an epicenter of revolutionary violence and crime in our region. Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), namely ELN and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), used terrorism and kidnappings to extort concessions from the government. Their actions claimed more than 10,000 lives, including almost 4,000 civilian lives, in the process. Drug dealers thrived in the chaos, with Colombia supplying up to 90 percent of the world’s cocaine.
All of that began to change when the United States invested more than $10 billion in helping the Colombian government reestablish security through Plan Colombia. Even the liberal Obama Administration testified to that program’s success. Then-Secretary of State John Kerry said Plan Colombia “transformed a nation on the brink of collapse into a strong institutional democracy with historically low levels of violence.”
President Petro, in contrast, has turned back the clock. He has appeased terrorists, treating them like legitimate groups rather than the bands of criminals they are. He even convinced the Biden Administration to release mass-murderer Salvatore Mancuso from U.S. prison, then set him free. President Petro has also appeased cartels, ordering his troops to eradicate coca only by hand, thereby hobbling efforts to eliminate the crop. The result of all this? Killers and drug dealers have “expanded their territorial control, enhanced their power of recruitment, and diversified their income.”
Meanwhile, the Colombian people have gained next to nothing. Last year, terrorist-affiliated homicides rose as much as 72 percent, depending on the region, while across the nation, kidnappings rose 77 percent and extortion almost 15 percent. Those who followed the abduction of Luis Díaz’s father know that no one is safe from this scourge. And now that “Total Peace” has fallen apart, more crime — including more horrific child sex trafficking, of which Colombia is tragically a hotbed — is on the horizon.
This crime will not stay within Colombia’s borders, either. President Petro’s weak policies are already destabilizing nearby countries. Colombia’s drug trade emboldened the gangsters who attacked a news station in Ecuador — live on camera — earlier this year. There is also reason to believe Colombian arms dealers are supplying the forces of anarchy in Haiti. In short, President Petro’s failures bode ill for every society in our region.
I urge President Joe Biden to deal firmly with his Colombian counterpart in response. The United States should condition our foreign aid on a decrease in Bogotá’s appeasement tactics. American taxpayers should not be responsible for aiding the bad policies of weak leaders. Moreover, we should never again relinquish our rights to refuse extradition of Colombian gangsters or terrorists who violate U.S. law, as we did with Salvatore Mancuso. Meeting appeasement with appeasement will only amplify the misery that follows.
