What should a foreign leader expect when meeting with Donald Trump in the White House? If you are Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, will authorities arrest you upon your arrival in the United States and throw you in a cell with Nicolas Maduro? If not, will hard-line administration officials ambush you in the Oval office, as JD Vance did to Ukrainian President Zelensky, lobbing rhetorical grenades designed to send the meeting into chaos?
When Petro met Trump on February 3rd, the stakes were high. The Trump Administration had decertified Colombia from receiving security assistance on grounds that it was not adequately addressing drug trafficking. The U.S. military had bombed multiple boats off of the Colombia’s Caribbean and Pacific coasts, killing alleged drug traffickers. Colombia even faced the prospect of a U.S. military invasion similar to the one carried out in Venezuela.
In the end, authorities did not arrest Petro, and the two-hour private meeting remained cordial. At a subsequent press conference, Petro reported that the conversation covered counter-narcotics efforts, potential collaboration to rebuild Venezuela, the tense relationship between Colombia and Ecuador, and other issues.
On one hand, advocates for peace, justice, and human rights felt relieved that the potential for escalated conflict between Trump and Petro appeared reduced in the immediate term. Extreme scenarios, such as a U.S. military incursion into Colombia, now seem off the table.
On the other hand, Colombia presented itself as “America’s #1 ally against narcoterrorist” and acquiesced to pressure to return to failed drug war tactics. In recent months, Colombia has ramped up military actions, bombings, and extraditions of alleged drug lords. It’s possible the Petro government has not taken these steps because it believes they will work, but rather to inoculate itself against political rivals in both the U.S. and Colombia.
In a joint report with Amazon Underworld, we recently outlined the dynamics of violence and criminality along Colombia’s southern triple-border region with Ecuador and Peru. The report’s conclusions run counter to the militarized and punitive approaches of the War on Drugs. Our recommendations call for coordinated regional public security rooted in community and environmental priorities, stronger local self governance and protection mechanisms, community led strategies to combat environmental crime, credible economic alternatives to illicit crops, and human rights grounded peace dialogues to reduce violence.
During media interviews throughout President Petro’s visit to Washington, DC, Amazon Watch underscored the importance of Petro using the final months of his administration to strengthen protections for community leaders and environmental activists at mortal risk, implement key Indigenous rights rulings from the Inter-American Human Rights Court, and continue actions to protect the Amazon rainforest.
These represent just some of the demands of Colombian Indigenous movements and civil society, which now need international allies to support their campaigns and advocacy efforts more than ever.
Repudiating the “Donroe Doctrine”
As detailed in our report In the Shadow of the State, Amazon Watch’s recommendations to counter transnational mafias in the Amazon triple-border region run counter to the drug war tactics that Trump and Rubio are imposing as part of the so-called “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine.
One week after Petro’s visit to the White House, a group of U.S. members of Congress launched a new “Good Neighbor Policy,” designed to repudiate overt U.S. imperialism in the Western Hemisphere and offer a positive alternative.
The 20-page resolution details two centuries of interventionism, citing examples from the past year that include election interference in Honduras, the bombing of alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, and the January 3 illegal military action in Venezuela.
The resolution denounces Investor State Dispute Settlements (ISDS), pro-corporate arbitration panels that allow multinational companies to sue governments for enacting environmental and human rights protections that reduce profits. Just last December, Amazon Watch expressed outrage at reports that the Ecuadorian government plans to pay US $220 million to oil giant Chevron to honor an illegitimate ISDS arbitration ruling
On the affirmative side, the resolution calls for collaboration, not coercion, in U.S. relationships with Latin American neighbors. As outlined in an article published in The Hill, “provisions include engaging in reforms to economic policy and development, both bilaterally and within international and multilateral organizations, and prioritizing action against climate change.”
Amazon Watch welcomes the new congressional resolution and encourages more actors in the United States to speak out in favor of a radically different U.S. foreign policy toward Latin America in general and the Amazonian region in particular.
