Gustavo Petro (Image: President’s Office)
Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro walked back his threat to stop sharing intelligence with US security agencies after a storm of criticism.
In a post on social media platform X, Petro said Wednesday that the intelligence community, “including US agencies,” will have access to “communication that guarantees that it will be used for seizures without undermining human rights and that will lead to arrests with the protection of life.”
Any communication that guarantees that it will be used for seizures without undermining human rights and that will lead to arrests with protection of life, without risking lives, will be used by the intelligence community… without prejudice to any agency, including US agencies.
President Gustavo Petro
Interior Minister Armando Benedetti said Thursday that “there has been a misinterpretation by the Colombian press and some high-ranking government officials” of Petro, who on Tuesday ordered “all levels of intelligence of the public force” to “suspend the sending of communications and other treaties with US security agencies.”
The presidential website subsequently informed that “Colombia suspends exchange of intelligence information with the US as long as attacks [on alleged drug vessels] in the Caribbean persist.”
Colombia suspends intelligence sharing with US over strikes on Caribbean boats
According to Benedetti, “Petro has never said that the American control agencies FBI, DEA, HSI will stop working in Colombia alongside our intelligence agencies DIPOL, DIJIN, CTI.”
“We will continue to work as we have with the United States against drug trafficking and crime,” Benedetti added.
Petro, who previously accused the US Government of using its so-called “War on Drugs” as a means to exercise control over Latin American peoples, insisted that his government would “use every measure at our disposal to decolonize the fight against drug traffickers.”
The president’s initial announcement to end intelligence sharing with the US led to fierce criticism by the opposition, which stressed that Colombia’s efforts to fight crime benefits from its cooperation with Washington DC.
