{"id":2945,"date":"2026-08-02T14:39:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T14:39:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cnnglobalnews.com\/2026\/08\/02\/us-punished-colombias-outgoing-leader-for-calling-gaza-war-genocide-fm-to-rt-video\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T14:39:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T14:39:37","slug":"us-punished-colombias-outgoing-leader-for-calling-gaza-war-genocide-fm-to-rt-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cnnglobalnews.com\/?p=2945","title":{"rendered":"US punished Colombia\u2019s outgoing leader for calling Gaza war \u2018genocide\u2019 \u2013 FM to RT (VIDEO)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington\u2019s sanctions against Gustavo Petro and its worsening ties with Bogota had little to do with Donald Trump\u2019s war on drugs, Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio has told RT<\/strong><\/p>\n

Israel is at the heart of Washington\u2019s long-running tensions with Colombia and its outgoing President Gustavo Petro, Foreign Minister Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio has told RT.<\/p>\n

In an exclusive interview aired on Sunday, Villavicencio insisted that the decisive factor behind US sanctions on Petro was not his alleged failure to combat drug trafficking but rather his outspoken support for Palestine and repeated accusations that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Relations between Bogota and Washington \u2013 Colombia\u2019s largest trading partner \u2013 steadily deteriorated during Petro\u2019s presidency over US policy in Latin America, particularly toward Venezuela and Cuba, regional anti-drug efforts, and broader geopolitical differences, most notably Petro\u2019s outspoken support for Palestine and criticism of Israel. This culminated in Washington sanctioning Petro last year, accusing him of \u201callowing drug cartels to flourish\u201d<\/em> and \u201crefusing to stop\u201d<\/em> narcotics trafficking.<\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump called Petro an \u201cillegal drug leader,\u201d<\/em> and openly backed right-wing presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, who campaigned on restoring closer ties with Washington, over Petro ally and left-wing Senator Ivan Cepeda in the election earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"Colombians
Trump-backed \u2018Tiger\u2019 claims victory in Colombian election<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Villavicencio rejected Washington\u2019s justification for sanctioning Petro, arguing that his administration had delivered record results in combating drug trafficking.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are talking about record-breaking seizures of cocaine, exceeding the figures achieved by any previous administration,\u201d<\/em> she said, adding that authorities had dismantled cocaine laboratories, extradited suspects, confiscated criminal assets, and kept the US informed of those efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident [Petro\u2019s] inclusion on the OFAC list [is] in no way related to drug trafficking. These measures were taken against the president because of his firm and principled stance when he openly described what is happening in Palestine as genocide,\u201d<\/em> Villavicencio declared. \u201cThat was the real reason.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Petro severed diplomatic ties with Israel in 2024 over its military campaign in Gaza, repeatedly accusing West Jerusalem of committing genocide and becoming one of Israel\u2019s fiercest critics in Latin America.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"President
Colombia\u2019s Petro accuses Israel of hacking election<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

He also suspended all Israeli arms purchases, ending Colombia\u2019s long-standing reliance on Israeli military technology, banned coal exports to Israel, and later expelled Israel\u2019s remaining diplomats after an aid flotilla carrying Colombian activists was intercepted by Israeli forces. Colombia also formally joined South Africa\u2019s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).<\/p>\n

Petro is due to hand power to President-elect de la Espriella on August 7. He has said he will not attend the inauguration, challenged the legitimacy of the election, and alleged that Israel manipulated Colombia\u2019s presidential vote by hacking election servers. Apart from aligning Colombia more closely with Washington, de la Espriella has pledged to restore full diplomatic ties with Israel, effectively reversing nearly every major foreign-policy decision of the Petro administration.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Gaza conflict remains unresolved despite recent political developments. Earlier this week, Hamas said it had accepted Trump\u2019s Board of Peace proposal for phased disarmament, provided Israel fulfills its commitments, including a phased military withdrawal, humanitarian access, and progress on reconstruction.<\/p>\n

\n
\n READ MORE: <\/span>Colombian leader warns US of Latin American \u2018rebellion\u2019
\n <\/a>\n <\/p>\n

Israel has yet to formally endorse the proposal, however, insisting that any withdrawal can only begin after Hamas fully disarms, leaving the process deadlocked. Israeli forces have meanwhile continued<\/a>\u00a0operations across Gaza, with Palestinian officials reporting at least one person killed and several others wounded in strikes on Friday.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington\u2019s sanctions against Gustavo Petro and its worsening ties with Bogota had little to do with Donald Trump\u2019s war on drugs, Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio has told RT Israel is at … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cnnglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cnnglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cnnglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnnglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnnglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnnglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cnnglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnnglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnnglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}