Phoenix 24
When alliances stop being predictable, every message becomes a warning.
Bogotá, October 2025.
U.S. President Donald Trump has announced the immediate suspension of all economic assistance to Colombia, accusing President Gustavo Petro of “promoting drug production” and leading a government “complicit with narcotrafficking.” The statement, delivered from the White House, took even senior State Department officials by surprise, as reports on ongoing bilateral cooperation were still being drafted just hours before.
The move marks the lowest point in U.S.–Colombia relations in decades. According to diplomatic sources in Washington and Brussels, the decision halts funding for rural development, environmental initiatives, ex-combatant reintegration programs, and joint police operations. In total, the annual aid package was estimated to exceed $450 million.
In response, Petro condemned the announcement as a “political and moral aggression” against a country that has served as a strategic partner of the United States for over half a century in the so-called war on drugs. “We will not be treated as a colony or an enemy,” he declared in a televised address, demanding respect for Colombia’s sovereignty.
Analysts from the Atlantic Council, the Peterson Institute, and the University of Miami’s Center for Hemispheric Security Studies suggest the decision carries an electoral undertone: Trump seeks to reinforce his domestic narrative of toughness toward Latin America, especially after recent incidents in the Caribbean, where a U.S. military operation led to the death of a Colombian fisherman in disputed waters. The case sparked protests in Bogotá and renewed calls to review the 2022 naval cooperation agreements.
The freeze of USAID funds directly impacts programs that sustain the implementation of Colombia’s peace accord with the former FARC rebels, as well as coca crop-substitution efforts in regions such as Cauca, Putumayo, and Nariño. UN officials in Colombia warned that an abrupt funding cut could lead to a surge in coca production and destabilize rural communities that rely on international support for economic reintegration.
From Brussels, EU diplomats voiced concern over the “weakening of multilateral cooperation frameworks,” recalling that Colombia remains a key partner on migration, energy, and environmental issues. Meanwhile, Spain’s Foreign Ministry urged both sides to preserve dialogue, and experts from the Inter-American Development Bank are exploring alternative financing channels to sustain affected projects.
In Beijing, state-linked media noted that China could “offer new frameworks of cooperation without political conditions.” Analysts at the Lowy Institute in Sydney interpret that message as part of Beijing’s effort to expand its influence across South America amid U.S. retrenchment.
For strategists at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, the rupture poses a hemispheric security risk: the vacuum left by U.S. assistance could be exploited by transnational criminal networks or extra-regional actors seeking to re-establish military or logistical footholds in the Caribbean.
Within Colombia, business and agricultural sectors fear the immediate economic shock. Without USAID and Plan Colombia subsidies, substitution and reintegration programs could collapse before the year’s end. “We’re facing a political and economic earthquake, not just a symbolic gesture,” summarized a congressional adviser who requested anonymity.
The Colombian Foreign Ministry has announced that it will issue a formal diplomatic protest and convene urgent consultations with Latin American ambassadors to coordinate a collective stance toward Washington’s shift. Petro reaffirmed that “no financial blackmail will determine Colombia’s sovereign path” and vowed to seek “new alliances without submission.”
Beneath the rhetoric, the rupture exposes the fragility of the cooperative framework that once underpinned U.S. foreign policy in Latin America. What used to be a strategic alliance now reveals itself as a fracture line—one that may redefine the balance of power across the region.
Phoenix24: clarity in the grey zone. / Phoenix24: claridad en la zona gris.