Colombian President Says Cocaine Is Only Illegal Because It's Produced In Latin America, 'Not Because It's Worse Than Whisky'

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said that cocaine is only illegal around the world because it is produced in Latin America, and that a change in its status would contribute to preventing criminal organizations from profiting from it.

Petro made the claim speaking at a roundtable with his cabinet on Tuesday, saying that is the case not because the drug is "worse than whisky." "That is what scientists are analyzing. What indeed is affecting the U.S. is fentanyl, which is killing them," the president said.

Petro went on to say that the "business" from criminal organizations could be "easily dismantled if cocaine were to be legalized around the world." "It could be sold like wine," he added, claiming that proceedings could be used to prevent underage consumption.

Petro has repeatedly claimed that Latin America has been historically oppressed by wealthy, right-wing governments in the U.S. and elsewhere, saying this continues to place the region at an economic disadvantage.

He repeated such claims when engaging in a tariff standoff with his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, after briefly refusing to receive Colombian deportees. While the administrations were still engaged in the dispute, Petro wrote an extensive post criticizing the U.S. and saying he would "resist."

Petro described Trump and other American leaders as "slaveholders" who saw Colombians as an "inferior race." "I survived torture, and I will resist you," he wrote. "Make me fall, President, and the Americas and humanity will respond."

The Colombian president ultimately folded and agreed to receive deportees. He has since called undocumented nationals in the country to return "as soon as possible," announcing his administration would seek to provide financial credits to those who choose to do so and request one.

"I ask Colombian men and women without documents in the U.S. to leave their jobs immediately in that country and return to Colombia as soon as possible," Petro said through a post on X last Friday. "Wealth is produced only by the working people. The Department of Social Prosperity (DPS) will seek to provide productive loans to those who return and enroll in its programs. Let's build social wealth in Colombia."

"Petro's so-called 'battle against the empire' lasted no more than three hours, because, obviously, mistreating Colombia's main trade partner would mean destroying the Colombian economy," Colombian congressman Christian Garcés told The Latin Times on Wednesday.

The number of undocumented Colombians currently residing in the U.S. is not precisely known. According to 2022 data from the Pew Research Center, approximately one million undocumented migrants in the U.S. are from South America, though no breakdown by country was provided.