Biden administration says it supports Petro's approach to drugs

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, part of the administration of President Joe Biden.| Photo: EFE/EPA/ROLEX DELA PENA

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Monday () in Bogotá that the United States “strongly” supports the comprehensive approach to curbing drug trafficking proposed by the President of Colombia, the leftist Gustavo Petro.

“We have a lot in common on virtually every problem we have to address. In the fight against drugs, for example, we strongly support the government’s comprehensive approach,” Blinken told a news conference alongside of the Colombian ruler in the Casa de Nariño, presidential seat.

Blinken thus responded to the firm pronouncement of the new Colombian president two weeks ago at the United Nations General Assembly, where he criticized the frontal war against drug trafficking sponsored by the US for decades, which, he said, ” destroyed ” the Colombian jungle and harmed the environment with the eradication of plantations.”

The leader of American diplomacy opined that, on the one hand, the law must be enforced and drug traffickers prosecuted, but there must also be an approach that includes “justice” to the peasantry, which is forced to plant illicit crops, in addition to protecting the environment and reducing consumption in the US.

Blinken assured that both governments “listened to each other” and reached out to specify in the coming weeks proposals to move forward in this new approach.