Colombian President Gustavo Petro has claimed that “cocaine is no worse than whisky” following a surge in production of coca in his country.
The 64-year-old made the contentious remark during a televised cabinet meeting. He told those in attendance that cocaine — of which Colombia is by far the largest producer in the world — was only illegal “because it’s made in Latin America”.
Petro, a leftist former guerrilla group member who has previously labelled the US-led war on drugs a failure, added: “The business could easily be dismantled if cocaine were legalised worldwide. It would sell like wine.”
The former mayor of Bogotá turned heads in Washington last week after he initially refused to receive Colombian deportees handcuffed on American military aircraft.
The stand-off almost brought about a trade war, so the president’s latest comments are bound to cause a stir in the US.
Colombia has spent decades fighting drug trafficking. The country’s government has confronted powerful drug cartels and drug-related violence with a policy guided by a series of UN treaties that prohibit drugs and oblige governments to prosecute recreational drug use and production.
These treaties are known as the “drug prohibition regime“.
US President Donald Trump has taken a strong line against the smuggling of narcotics since being sworn into office last month.
Trump has made threats to Mexico over trafficking, especially the synthetic opioid fentanyl, over the US border.
Petro pointed out that fentanyl, a contributor to the opioid crisis in the United States, “is killing Americans, but it’s not made in Colombia.”
“Fentanyl was created as a pharmacy drug by North American multinationals” and those who used it “became addicted,” Petro added.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, cocaine production in Colombia reached a record high in 2023. It jumped by 53 percent to more than 2,600 tons.
Petro’s government has drastically reduced military and police operations that target coca farmers, instead prioritising seizures of drug shipments at sea.
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