For the first time in nearly three decades, the United States has officially decertified Colombia’s counter-narcotics efforts, a seismic shift in a relationship long considered a cornerstone of Washington’s security strategy in Latin America. The U.S. State Department’s announcement on September 15, 2025, sent shockwaves through diplomatic circles, placing Colombia alongside countries such as Afghanistan, Bolivia, Burma, and Venezuela—nations identified as failing to adhere to international counter-narcotics agreements over the past year, according to statements reported by France 24 and The Washington Post.
This move, which could jeopardize hundreds of millions in U.S. economic and military support, marks the first time since 1994 that Colombia has faced such a public rebuke under U.S. anti-drug legislation. The decision comes at a time when coca cultivation in Colombia has soared to record highs, with estimates exceeding 260,000 hectares in 2025—a dramatic increase that underscores the persistent challenge of drug production in the region. According to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, the amount of land dedicated to coca cultivation in Colombia has nearly tripled over the past decade, hitting a record 253,000 hectares in 2023.
Yet, the decertification was not without nuance. The State Department included a waiver recognizing Colombia as “vital to U.S. national interests,” which allows for continued military assistance and support for manual coca eradication. This middle-ground approach, as outlined by The Washington Post, spares Colombia the harshest consequences—such as blocked access to multilateral financing and trade sanctions—for now. Still, the threat to approximately $453 million in U.S. economic and security aid looms large, and the uncertainty could complicate Colombia’s ability to secure loans from major international institutions like the IMF and World Bank if punitive measures escalate.
President Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s first leftist leader, did not mince words in his response. During a televised cabinet meeting and in a series of posts on social media, he accused the United States of ignoring Colombia’s sacrifices in the fight against drug trafficking. “The United States decertifies us after the deaths of dozens of police, especially soldiers, and ordinary people trying to prevent cocaine from reaching them,” Petro declared, as cited by The Washington Post. The presidency’s social media accounts echoed this sentiment, emphasizing that the move came “despite the sacrifices Colombia has made in the fight against drug trafficking.”
Petro also announced a significant policy shift, stating that Colombia would move to reduce its military dependence on U.S. weaponry. “No more handouts or gifts,” he said. “We will end the dependency of Colombia’s Armed Forces on U.S. arms.” In a pointed message on his X account, Petro accused the U.S. of seeking to “participate” in Colombian politics and searching for a “puppet president” ahead of the 2026 elections. “The Colombian people will reply if they want a puppet president…or a free and sovereign nation,” he wrote, vowing not to let his nation “kneel” to U.S. interests or allow peasants who grow coca to be “beaten up.”
The U.S. government, for its part, cited record-high coca crops and Colombia’s failure to meet even reduced eradication goals as justification for the decertification. “Under President Petro, coca cultivation and cocaine production have reached historic highs, while failed attempts to negotiate with narco-terrorist groups have only exacerbated the crisis,” the State Department said, as reported by The Washington Post. The U.S. administration’s official report further noted that while Colombia’s security institutions and municipal authorities have shown “skill and courage” in confronting drug traffickers, “the failure of Colombia to meet its drug control obligations over the past year rests solely with its political leadership.”
Despite the diplomatic clash, U.S. officials emphasized that essential cooperation would continue. John McNamara, the chargé d’affaires at the U.S. embassy in Bogotá, told Colombian radio station Blu, “We are going to do everything we can to fight with the Colombian people against the global threat of drugs.” He assured that consular services, humanitarian projects, and defense cooperation would not be affected by the decertification, according to AP News.
The political fallout has been swift and sharp. Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida, a vocal critic of President Petro, welcomed the decertification and criticized Petro’s anti-drug policies. “The president you currently have is terrible and is not reducing the numbers in drug production, and that’s a problem, because people here in the United States lose their lives as a result of those actions,” Scott told Colombia’s Semana news outlet. He warned that continued ties with controversial leaders like Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega could further isolate Colombia, threatening not only U.S. government dollars but also foreign investment and tourism.
Meanwhile, Democrats have expressed concern about the surge in cocaine flows but have been more measured in their criticism of Petro, mindful of his popularity among progressives and his role in regional peace talks. The decertification has also become a flashpoint in Colombia’s domestic politics, with the upcoming general election expected to focus heavily on the U.S.-Colombia relationship and strategies to curb coca cultivation, which finances illegal armed groups.
Colombia’s ambassador to Washington, Daniel García-Peña, stressed the importance of maintaining strong bilateral ties, regardless of the new designation. “An eventual decertification would be terrible not only for Colombia and the United States, but for the hemisphere and the world,” he told local media before the announcement. He emphasized that the relationship “must continue to be strengthened, because both countries share strategic interests in common.”
Experts suggest that while military cooperation is likely to continue in the short term, the overall relationship is entering a period of heightened tension. Sandra Borda, an international relations professor at Bogotá’s Los Andes University, noted that decertification is unlikely to halt efforts against drug traffickers but could fuel anti-American sentiment and rally support for Petro ahead of the elections. “There has been a difficult relationship between the Petro and Trump administrations,” Borda explained to AP News. “You have statements and declarations that are not friendly and I think what you are going to see is an escalation of that.”
Historically, Colombia has been Washington’s top security partner in Latin America, receiving more than $13 billion in U.S. aid since the launch of Plan Colombia in 2000. The country has served as a base for U.S. counternarcotics operations and a model for military cooperation in the region. But Petro’s push to redefine the partnership—calling for less reliance on eradication and a global rethink of drug policy—has put him on a collision course with traditional U.S. priorities.
Under U.S. law, the president faces three choices each September: grant full certification, decertify with a waiver for vital national interests, or fully decertify with punitive measures. This year, Colombia received the middle option, which, as Adam Isacson of the Washington Office on Latin America put it, is “a lifeline.” But he warned, “If coca numbers don’t come down and violence continues, the pressure will mount for stronger action. This could be just the beginning of a much rockier period in U.S.-Colombia ties.”
As both nations navigate this fraught chapter, the future of their partnership—and the broader fight against drugs in the hemisphere—hangs in the balance, with political, economic, and security implications that may reverberate far beyond their borders.