Colombia, U.S. discuss more drug interception at sea, enhanced intel sharing
CONTRIBUTOR
Humeyra Pamuk Reuters
PUBLISHED
OCT 3, 2022 07:11PM EDT
CREDIT: REUTERS/LUISA GONZALEZ
By Humeyra Pamuk
BOGOTA, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Colombian President Gustavo Petro and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday they discussed stepping up the interception of narcotics at sea and enhanced intelligence sharing on drug trafficking.
Leftist former rebel Petro, who hosted Blinken in Bogota, has derided the U.S.-led war on drugs as a failure and called for a new international approach.
In a news conference after their meeting, Petro said priorities were the interdiction of drugs before they are shipped out of Colombia and going after those who run the trade, who he said were likely to be not in Colombia's jungles but in Bogota, Medellin, Miami and even New York.
Blinken is on a week-long trip to Colombia, Chile and Peru, which all have relatively new leftist leaders.
Petro also repeated criticism of Colombia's agreement with Washington on the extradition of drug traffickers. He has proposed that traffickers who comply with government surrender conditions and abandon the trade not be extradited to face charges abroad.
More:
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/colombia-u.s.-discuss-more-drug-interception-at-sea-enhanced-intel-sharing
