US maintains sanctions on Colombian President Gustavo Petro

The United States announced that it has no immediate plans to remove Colombian President Gustavo Petro from the Treasury Department’s OFAC (Clinton) list or to restore his U.S. visa. The statement was made by Luis Méndez, the State Department’s deputy assistant secretary for South America, during a hearing of the House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.

Méndez said the sanctions remain because Washington judges Petro’s anti‑drug policies have led to increased coca cultivation and cocaine production, which the U.S. says threatens its security. He added that any review would depend on a change in the circumstances that prompted the original measures, and that the Treasury, not the State Department, administers the list. The sanctions also apply to other Colombian officials, including Verónica Alcocer, Nicolás Petro and Armando Benedetti.