'Cocaine is No Worse than Whiskey', Colombia President Declares
Could this mark a breaking point in regional cooperation on narco-geopolitics?
On February 5, Colombian President Gustavo Petro sparked serious controversy during a live broadcast of an emergency cabinet meeting by claiming that "cocaine is no worse than whiskey." He went further, noting:
Cocaine is illegal not because of health risks, but because it is produced in Latin America.
In fact, he added that legalizing cocaine globally could dismantle drug trafficking networks if the world allowed it to be "sold like wine." He also pointed out that fentanyl, not cocaine, is the primary driver of drug-related deaths in the United States.
As the leader of the world’s largest cocaine-producing country, could Petro’s comments impact the geopolitics of the drug trade? This is not the first time Petro has advocated for the legalization of cocaine. But with the Trump administration waging a fierce war on drug trafficking, could this strain US-Colombia relations and, more broadly, US-Latin America relations?
Trump has already accused Latin American countries of fueling their economic growth by emptying their prisons and unleashing their drug cartels on the US. Could this statement add fuel to the fire by triggering a domino effect of trade pressures and tariffs on Colombia and other vulnerable countries in the region, potentially disrupting supply chains across various industries? Let’s break this down.