{"id":2960,"date":"2025-11-22T05:18:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T05:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=2960"},"modified":"2025-11-22T05:18:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T05:18:19","slug":"colombia-hails-historic-blow-after-largest-cocaine-bust-in-a-decade-drugs-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=2960","title":{"rendered":"Colombia hails \u2018historic blow\u2019 after largest cocaine bust in a decade | Drugs News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Colombian authorities have made their largest cocaine bust in a decade, confiscating 14 tonnes at its main Pacific port, as President Gustavo Petro continues to fight back against claims from the administration of United States President Donald Trump of his complicity in the drug trade.<\/p>\n

The seizure in the world\u2019s largest cocaine-producing country came as Bolivia announced the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will be invited back into the country, 17 years after being expelled, to bolster the new conservative government\u2019s anti-cocaine efforts.<\/p>\n

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list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n

Colombia\u2019s Ministry of Defence hailed the \u201chistoric blow\u201d to drug traffickers on Friday, as it announced it had seized dozens of 50-kilogramme (110-pound) sacks of cocaine inside a warehouse in the southwestern port of Buenaventura, a strategic departure point for Colombian cocaine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe drug was camouflaged under the method of being mixed with plaster,\u201d it said, adding that the container was headed for the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this seizure, we prevented the circulation of 35 million doses of cocaine and impacted the finances of those structures by more than $388.9m.\u201d<\/p>\n

Petro confirmed the seizure in a post on X, calling it the largest by the Colombian police \u201cin the last decade\u201d as he posted a video of officers and canines raiding the warehouse in the Port of Buenaventura.<\/p>\n

He added that the operation was carried out \u201cwithout a single death\u201d.<\/p>\n

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\u00a1ALERTA!<\/p>\n

La incautaci\u00f3n m\u00e1s grande de la Polic\u00eda de Colombia en la \u00faltima d\u00e9cada.<\/p>\n

Son 14 toneladas de coca\u00edna incautadas sin un solo muerto en el Puerto de Buenaventura. pic.twitter.com\/KlCPPfRbWa<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) November 21, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Translation: ALERT! The largest seizure by the Colombian Police in the last decade. It is 14 tonnes of cocaine seized without a single death in the Port of Buenaventura.<\/em><\/p>\n

Pressure from Washington<\/h2>\n

The seizure comes as the Trump administration has ramped up pressure on Bogota over recent months, branding its anti-drug policies insufficient and threatening to remove Colombia from its list of allies in its war on drugs.<\/p>\n

In October, the US Department of the Treasury sanctioned President Petro, his wife Veronica del Socorro Alcocer Garcia, his son Nicolas Fernando Petro Burgos, and Colombian Interior Minister Armando Alberto Benedetti over their alleged involvement in the global drug trade.<\/p>\n

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Petro had \u201callowed drug cartels to flourish and refused to stop this activity\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince President Gustavo Petro came to power, cocaine production in Colombia has exploded to the highest rate in decades, flooding the United States and poisoning Americans,\u201d Bessent said.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Petro ordered Colombia\u2019s Financial Information and Analysis Unit to publicly release his bank records\u00a0in an effort to demonstrate he has no ties to drug trafficking.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t you find it alarming that my bank accounts and transactions contradict President Trump\u2019s assessment of a president democratically elected by Colombians?\u201d Petro wrote on X.<\/p>\n

Petro has been critical of Trump\u2019s anti-drug strategy since returning to office, condemning his administration\u2019s repeated bombing of suspected trafficking boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean since September as \u201cextrajudicial executions\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has cast its military actions \u2013 including a recent dramatic increase of warships stationed in the region \u2013 as an effort to counter illicit drug flows.<\/p>\n

Venezuela has decried it as a pretext to force President Nicolas Maduro from power, as fears grow in Caracas that Trump is readying troops for imminent military action against the South American country.<\/p>\n

Bolivia\u2019s conservative shift<\/h2>\n

As Colombia and Venezuela look to be on a collision course with Washington, US ties with Bolivia are showing signs of improvement as the South American country begins a new era of conservative governance after two decades of leftist rule.<\/p>\n

Bolivia\u2019s brand-new narcotics tsar, Ernesto Justiniano, told the AFP news agency on Friday that the DEA, expelled by socialist former president Evo Morales in 2008, will be invited to return to the country.<\/p>\n

Justiniano \u2013 part of the new administration of President Rodrigo Paz, a pro-business conservative who took office on November 8 \u2013 said \u201cthere is a political commitment\u201d for the agency to return to Bolivia, where he said cocaine production had spiralled out of control.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will no longer be an isolated country, a country that is self-absorbed and acts solely out of political necessity,\u201d Justiniano said.<\/p>\n

\u201cInternational cooperation is fundamental\u201d to fighting the drug trade, he added.<\/p>\n

Paz, the leader of the centre-right Christian Democratic Party, is aiming for a sharp political, economic, social and diplomatic shift away from the policies of Bolivia\u2019s socialist leaders.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n