Colombian Ambassador: When Alliances Matter Most, Look South: Colombia and the US—Partners Against Transnational Crime

Newsweek

02-07-2025

Colombia and the United States mark 203 years of diplomatic relations this year. In recent decades, that partnership has evolved into a strategic alignment on some of the most pressing global and regional challenges. One constant has endured through political shifts in both Washington and Bogotá: a relationship grounded in a shared purpose—namely, building a safer, more stable region. That's good for Colombia, good for the United States, and good for the hemisphere as a whole.
The bilateral relationship has matured into something rare in international affairs: a security alliance forged in practice, not just in principle. From intelligence sharing to joint operations, Colombia and the United States have created a framework of cooperation unmatched in Latin America.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem poses for photos with Colombian Foreign Minister Laura Sarabia on March 27, 2025, in Bogotá, Colombia.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem poses for photos with Colombian Foreign Minister Laura Sarabia on March 27, 2025, in Bogotá, Colombia.
Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images
The America First foreign policy set forth by the Trump administration offers an opportunity to continue and enhance our partnership in key areas vital to us both. And nowhere is that partnership more vital—or more visible—than in the fight against transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), which threaten the safety of our citizens and the integrity of our region.
A good example is the Tren de Aragua, a TCO designated by the Trump administration as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and active across the continent. It was Colombian intelligence that first identified the group's operations—insights that led to the arrest of its top leaders not just in Colombia, but in the United States and elsewhere. This is not an outlier.
In confronting transnational cartels, Colombia has taken extraordinary steps, including aerial bombardments, to disrupt their networks which include close ties to criminal organizations in Mexico involved in fentanyl trafficking into the U.S. Ironically, while Colombia does not produce fentanyl, it has become one of Washington's most valuable partners in fighting those who do.
Colombia is also a regional exporter of security expertise. With U.S. support, it has trained over 52,000 police and military personnel across Central and South America and the Caribbean. The benefits of this cooperation ripple far beyond bilateral boundaries.
When it comes to counternarcotics, joint efforts between Colombia and the U.S. bring decades of hard-earned lessons. The past has shown that forced eradication and aerial spraying of coca crops yield short-term results but prove ineffective in the long run. In contrast, voluntary substitution programs—when combined with rural development and land reform—have proven far more sustainable. In regions like Arauca, in northeastern Colombia, former coca growers now export premium chocolate, earning more today from legal enterprise than they ever did from illicit crops.
Yet crop substitution is only one side of the equation. It is the dismantling of trafficking networks—their infrastructure, laboratories, transport routes, and financial assets—that truly cripples the narcotics trade. And here again, Colombia has delivered. In 2024, and the first half of 2025 alone, authorities seized over 1,279 metric tons of cocaine—equivalent to 1,400 U.S. tons—much of it destined for American cities. That's more than a billion potential doses taken off the streets and over $32 billion denied to criminal groups.
No nation has done more, at greater cost, to combat the drug trade—not only in effort and results, but in human lives.
There are, of course, differences between our two countries—both democracies, each with its own interests, as is natural between sovereign nations. Yet when it comes to the essential priority of dismantling transnational criminal organizations, our approaches are strikingly complementary.
Throughout his political career, President Gustavo Petro has courageously risked his life denouncing and combating mafias. President Donald Trump has made the fight against transnational criminal organizations a central priority of his current administration. Despite their differing political backgrounds, both are united by a shared conviction: these criminal networks represent a direct threat to the safety of our nations—and both presidents are acting with resolve to dismantle them.
U.S. cooperation has been instrumental in strengthening Colombia's security forces, law enforcement, and justice institutions. Colombia, in turn, has made the United States stronger, safer, and more secure. As the next chapter unfolds, the Colombia–United States partnership should not only endure—it must deepen. In an increasingly complex world, this is a strategic alliance the United States cannot afford to overlook.
Daniel García-Peña is the ambassador of Colombia to the United States.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.