As the United Nations (UN) General Assembly moves forward, the United States spoke about the Colombian government’s new national drug policy, currently led by President Gustavo Petro.
The North American country called on the Colombian government to do more to ensure the safety of communities and questioned some aspects of its plan.
Todd Robinson, Under Secretary of State for Narcotics Affairs, was responsible for commenting on the matter. In addition, he was one of the people who met with members of the Colombian government last week and presented them with the Gustavo Petro government’s new national drug policy.
Robinson pointed out that there are points of concern within this policy that still need to be examined, such as that it is not effective in creating markets for illegal crops.
He also asked some questions about the presence of the Colombian state in the most remote areas.
“I believe that the Colombian government needs to do more to provide security for its citizens in rural areas of Colombia, and we are ready to help them achieve this.” As you may recall, part of the campaign was by President Petro is precisely to provide more security to rural areas. And we want to help them do that,” said Todd Robinson.
However, after President Gustavo Petro spoke at the UN Assembly about the “exodus of the people” and asked how northern countries receive migrants, the president met with the President of Panama, Laurentino Cortizo.
The meeting was crucial in trying to address the migration crisis arising from the thousands of people crossing the Darién Gorge, where 82,000 migrants passed through in August 2023 alone.
What President Gustavo Petro has highlighted is that, given that the main population crossing the Darién Gorge comes from Venezuela, one of the solutions would be to lift sanctions against that country.
As of the afternoon of this Tuesday, September 19, the United States had not given a positive response to this proposal.
