Washington put an end to months of anticipation on Monday, September 16, by formally decertifying Colombia as a drug cooperation partner for the first time since 1997.

While the Donald Trump administration used the occasion to lambast Colombian President Gustavo Petro, it held back from a full decertification that could have led to 50% aid cuts and sweeping financial and political sanctions.

Despite relief in Colombia that U.S. assistance will continue, analysts warn the move may damage relations between Washington and a country that has historically been its strongest Latin American ally.

“​​In Colombia, coca cultivation and cocaine production have surged to all-time records under President Gustavo Petro, and his failed attempts to seek accommodations with narco-terrorist groups only exacerbated the crisis,” wrote Trump in a memorandum to Congress announcing decertification.

Throughout the memorandum and the adjoined “national interest waiver”, which watered down the decertification, Trump personally blamed Petro for soaring coca and cocaine production.

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The United States has officially named Colombia as a country which has « demonstrably failed » to uphold its obligations to control drug trafficking, but stopped short of cutting off the flow of US aid to Colombia.

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