In recent months, US policy towards Colombia has become increasingly hostile. Disagreement began with the Donald Trump administration’s deportation of Colombian citizens and Colombia’s initial refusal to receive them if they were shackled and treated as criminals. Relations continued to deteriorate as the two countries’ policies diverged on issues such as Palestine, with Petro having his US visa revoked following a public speech in New York.
In October, the US government ‘decertified’ Colombia in its ‘war on drugs’, falsely claiming that Colombia (along with Venezuela, which was also decertified) was ‘failing demonstrably’ in upholding its commitments to anti-drugs operations. The US pinned the blame on Colombia’s political leadership, with Donald Trump publicly accusing President Gustavo Petro of being a ‘drugs leader’. Furthermore, the US has accused Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro of leading ‘El Cartel de los Soles’, a supposed drugs cartel whose existence is disputed.
Since September, using counter-narcotics as a justification, the US has:
- enacted a massive military buildup in the Caribbean Sea, including the world’s largest aircraft carrier, close to Venezuelan waters.
- bombed over 20 small boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, killing over 80 people and claiming, without providing evidence, that they were transporting drugs.
- unilaterally announced the closure of Venezuelan air space.
- seized a Venezuelan oil tanker.
So far, two Colombian citizens have been confirmed by their families as killed in the attacks on small boats, though the number could be higher.
In October, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who recently admitted working closely with the US on a future ‘transition’ in Venezuela, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. As the Spanish daily El Pais noted, the decision shows that ‘sometimes the Norwegian committee seems to use these prizes not to celebrate the past, but to influence the course of future events.’ Indeed, many observers argue that the real objective of US policy is regime change in a country with some of the world’s largest oil reserves.
The buildup of forces and an increasingly belligerent political environment indicate that some form of military action against Venezuela is imminent. Petro has been outspoken in opposing any attack, with Trump in response threatening that Petro ‘will be next’ on 10 December. The escalation threatens the stability of the region as a whole and, in particular, that of Colombia as it strives to emerge from a devastating decades-long civil conflict and is adopting progressive social and economic policies to help deal with the root causes of violence.
The signing of Colombia’s peace agreement in 2016 brought hope that the country would finally leave behind decades of armed conflict and enter a new era of peace and social justice. As it approaches its tenth anniversary in November 2026, the agreement has made significant advances but also faced challenges. The former government of Iván Duque (2018-22) openly opposed the agreement, starving it of resources and failing to implement it as agreed. This contributed to the emergence of new armed groups that finance themselves through illicit crops and mining: new forms of conflict have subsequently broken out in several regions of Colombia. But despite the problems that persist, levels of conflict are lower than before 2016.
Indeed, the overall picture is one of progress: the signing of the agreement enabled the emergence of a broad left-wing social and political movement that led to Petro’s election in 2022. Petro’s government has ended the stigmatisation of trade unions, civil society and human rights activists, while transforming the culture of politics in Colombia away from elitism and towards more democratic forms. Its reform agenda has been stymied and delayed by the opposition in the Courts and in Congress, yet it has still been able to push through an important labour reform, introduce pensions for millions of retirees, expand education, improve investment in infrastructure and accelerate implementation of the peace agreement.
The Trump administration’s claims that Colombia is doing nothing to fight the war on drugs is demonstrably false. Seizures of cocaine, and the number of cocaine labs destroyed, have increased substantially under President Petro. Yet Colombia’s people for decades have paid the price for the US-sponsored War on Drugs, widely considered to have been a failure. The Obama administration’s drugs tzar recognised that the war on drugs was ‘counterproductive’ and, in 2023, a UN report highlighted the comprehensive failure of militarisation.
Many Colombian political figures have called for a re-examination of the factors that drive demand. In 2011, a Global Commission on Drugs called the War on Drugs a failure. That same year, Colombia’s right-wing president Juan Manuel Santos advocated a reset of international drugs strategy, including legalisation. More critical analysts in Colombia point out that the War on Drugs allows the ultimate financial beneficiaries of the drugs trade to continue their business in the US and elsewhere, while the poorest Colombian peasant farmers and the environment pay the highest price. This has prompted the search for new approaches to counter-narcotics in Colombia that recently found expression in a UN resolution on human rights in drugs policy.
More suspicion has arisen on US motives following President Trump’s pardoning of Juan Orlando Hernández, the former Honduran president who in 2024 was convicted by a US court of drugs trafficking and sentenced to 45 years in prison. It seems the narcotics issue simply provides a convenient rationale for US intervention in South America.
Military action in Venezuela would have serious repercussions for peace in Colombia and beyond. There are seven US military bases in Colombia that could become targets for those who reject the US intervention. Millions of Venezuelans would flee into Colombia and, if the Venezuelan leadership lost its ability to effectively control its forces, large amounts of weaponry – from rifles to anti-aircraft missiles – could end up in the hands of armed groups. A US attack would also contribute to the polarisation of Colombian politics, particularly if there were US pressure to allow operations on Colombian soil or bombardments near the border.
A recent JFC delegation to Colombia repeatedly heard from politicians, trade unions and activists that conflict in Venezuela would be ‘catastrophic’ for Colombia. Former president Santos, who is a Maduro critic, told our delegation that such an outcome would set a significant part of the Latin American population against the US for generations to come. As Colombia has demonstrated, the only pathway to peace is through dialogue. The US must respect Venezuelan sovereignty and withdraw the threat of invasion, as well as end aggressive rhetoric towards Colombia.
The push for war in Latin America must be resisted, which is why Justice for Colombia has signed the Emergency Statement: No to Trump’s War in Venezuela. You too can add your name and support peace in Colombia, Venezuela and Latin America.