Colombia’s Petro Undermines US-Led Anti-Drug Coalition Amid Growing Cartel Threat

In a move that raises immediate questions about regional cooperation against narcotrafficking, Colombian President Gustavo Petro openly criticized the United States’ recently unveiled ‘Shield of the Americas’ coalition. Presented over the weekend in Miami, this initiative aims to combat powerful drug cartels with support from Latin American allies linked ideologically to former President Donald Trump.Speaking before the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, Petro lambasted his country’s exclusion from the Miami meeting, dismissing the coalition as an alliance of "small, weak countries without experience" to tackle cocaine trafficking effectively. He questioned how such a fragmented effort could shield...