# Colombia **Colombia** is the canonical country record. It owns the bare name and is the default target for links to the country. Its influence operations directed at the United States are at [[Colombian Influence]]. No history hub exists for it yet. For the KB, Colombia is the clearest case of the second Trump administration turning drug policy into regime pressure on an elected left-wing government. The pressure ended, for now, with the 2026 election of a hard-right president Trump endorsed. ## Trump versus Petro, 2025–26 | Date | Event | |---|---| | Jan 26, 2025 | President [[Gustavo Petro]] turns back two U.S. military deportation flights. Trump orders 25% tariffs, threatens 50%, and imposes visa sanctions; Colombia gives in within hours and the tariffs are held in reserve | | Sept 15, 2025 | The U.S. **decertifies** Colombia as failing in counternarcotics cooperation, the first time since 1997 (whether a waiver was attached has not been confirmed) | | Sept 26, 2025 | The State Department revokes Petro's U.S. visa after he urged American soldiers in a New York street speech to "disobey the orders of Trump" | | Sept–Oct 2025 | U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats; Petro says one killed a Colombian fisherman, and the U.S. says an Oct 17 strike off the Caribbean coast hit an ELN-linked boat, killing three | | **Oct 24, 2025** | Treasury sanctions Petro, his son, his wife and aide Armando Benedetti under EO 14059 (narcotics) | | Jan 2026 | After the capture of [[Nicolás Maduro]], Trump calls Colombia "run by a sick man who likes making cocaine" and says military action there "sounds good to me." No evidence ties Petro to the cocaine trade | ## The 2026 election | Round | Abelardo de la Espriella (right) | Iván Cepeda (Pacto Histórico, left) | |---|---:|---:| | May 31 | 43.75% | 40.90% | | **June 21 runoff** | **49.66%** | 48.70% | Trump endorsed de la Espriella, a lawyer and outsider who promises to shoot down drug planes and boats and to resume aerial fumigation. Cepeda challenged about 33,000 ballot boxes before conceding. De la Espriella was inaugurated on **August 7, 2026**. One source reports constitutional questions about his U.S. nationality. ## The U.S. ambassador Trump nominated Kentucky businessman [[Nate Morris]] as ambassador after Morris left the Kentucky Senate primary in May 2026. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held his hearing on August 5, 2026. No confirmation vote had been found as of early October. Relations after the inauguration, and whether the Petro sanctions remain, were not checked for this page. ## See Also - [[Colombian Influence]] · [[Gustavo Petro]] · [[Nate Morris]] · [[Nicolás Maduro]] · [[Venezuela]] - [[World History Hub]]