Colombian President Gustavo Petro rejected the U.S. investigations against him over potential ties with drug traffickers, saying he has never spoken to anyone involved in such activities in his life.
In a social media publication, Petro said the investigation will actually help him "dismount accusations from far-right Colombians, which are in fact in cahoots with Colombia's drug-traffickers."
"Never in my life I have spoken with a drug-trafficker. On the contrary, I dedicated years ten years of my life, and at personal risk, leading my family into exile, to denounce ties between the most powerful drug-traffickers and politicians," Petro added.
Como bien sabe @elespectador en Colombia no existe una sola investigación sobre relación mia con narcotraficantes, por una sola razón: nunca en mi vida he hablado con un narcotraficante, al contrario dedique diez años de mi vida, y con riesgo de mi existencia y provocó el exikio… https://t.co/U4J0etQB5T
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) March 20, 2026
"As for my campaign, I've always told managers not to accept donations from bankers or narcos. The intensive and productive investigation on my presidential campaign did not discover a single peso from drug-traffickers because such is my principle as a political leader," he added.
The investigation in question, however, revolve around potential meetings between Petro and drug traffickers, and whether his campaign requested money from them.
There are two different investigations but it is not clear whether they will result in criminal charges. There were no indications that the White House played a role in beginning any of the inquiries, the outlet added.
Trump frequently clashed with Petro over the past months, particularly over regional policies including strikes against alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. The U.S. sanctioned him in October, with the Department of the Treasury alleging he allowed narco-terrorist organizations to thrive under the framework of his "total peace" plan, which the U.S. says has contributed to increased cocaine production in Colombia.
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent added that Petro had also "failed demonstrably" to halt the flow of cocaine into the United States.
Petro called the sanctions "a complete paradox." "Fighting drug trafficking effectively for decades has brought me this action from the government of the society we have worked so hard to protect from cocaine consumption. A complete paradox. Not a single step back and never on our knees," Petro wrote back then.
Tensions thawed in February after the two met in the White House. Trump said the two had a "very good meeting."
"He and I weren't exactly the best of friends, but I wasn't insulted because I never met him. I didn't know at all. And we got along very well. And we are we're working on that. We're working on some other things too, including sanctions," Trump added in early February.
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