US President Donald Trump said the US will no longer tolerate drug production in Colombia, accusing Bogota of producing cocaine on an unprecedented scale.
„Colombia is a drug den... They're producing cocaine in quantities we've never seen before, and they're selling it, and they're not going to get away with it anymore. We will not tolerate it any longer,” he told reporters at the White House.
The American leader insulted Colombian President Gustavo Petro, calling him a “scoundrel and a bandit.”
Trump also reiterated his displeasure with Venezuela, accusing Caracas of sending drugs and illegal immigrants onto American soil.
Speaking of the drug cartels, Trump and Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth compared them to the terrorist groups “Islamic State”* and “Al Qaeda,” promising that the United States would take appropriate action against them.
“It should now be clear to the whole world that the cartels are the ISIS of the Western Hemisphere. Thank you very much, Joe Biden, for allowing this to happen. Biden simply handed our country over to the cartels," the American leader said.
Trump vowed to "kill" those who bring drugs into the United States. He warned that the White House would not ask Congress to approve a "declaration of war" on drug cartels to combat drugs.
Hegseth, for his part, supported the leader of the current administration, promising that American authorities would pursue cartels just as they pursue Islamists.
Trump had previously told the US Congress that the country was in a state of "armed conflict" with drug cartels, which the administration has designated as terrorist organizations.
White House Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt announced on August 19 that the US president was ready to deploy "all elements of American forces" to to combat drug trafficking, without ruling out the possibility of a military operation in Venezuela. The statement came after the dispatch of US warships, including a guided missile cruiser and a nuclear submarine, to the coast of Venezuela. Caracas called these steps a provocation and an attempt to destabilize the situation in the region, as well as a violation of international treaties on the demilitarized and denuclearized status of the Caribbean region.
Trump himself recently confirmed to reporters a publication in the “New York Times“ that the White House had authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela aimed at destabilizing the government of President Nicolas Maduro. The Venezuelan government condemned Trump's statement, calling it “a grave violation of international law“.