Colombia to host office of Trump’s anti-cartel alliance: President-elect

MEDELLIN - Colombia will host an office belonging to US President Donald Trump’s “Shield of the Americas” initiative, the South American country’s hard-right president-elect announced on July 21.

The world’s largest cocaine producer, Colombia is currently not a member of the anti-cartel alliance made up of pro-US administrations across Latin America.

Under president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella, it is due to join the ranks of Trump-allied countries including Ecuador, Argentina and El Salvador.

The millionaire lawyer will take office on Aug 7 and has pledged to crack down on armed groups, partly by forging military partnerships with the United States and Israel.

He has also vowed to join the “Shield of the Americas” and said on July 21 that Colombia would host an alliance office in the north-western city of Medellin.

De la Espriella called the city “the head of the snake of drug trafficking and organised crime” in a statement to the press.

Medellin was the former stronghold of late cocaine baron Pablo Escobar and became one of the most violent cities in the world in the 1980s and 1990s due to his war on the state.

Drug traffickers with links to international criminal organisations continue to operate in the city.

Ecuador said on July 21 it would launch military operations against organised crime with Colombia “from the very first day” of De la Espriella’s term.

“We are on the verge of a change of government in Colombia, which is very favourable for us, because we will finally have someone to work with in this fight against organised crime,” Ecuador’s Interior Minister John Reimberg told reporters.

Ecuador has accused outgoing leftist leader Gustavo Petro of not doing enough to combat drug trafficking along their shared border.

Colombia did not participate in Trump’s anti-drugs initiative under Petro, with Brazil and Mexico also opting out.

Washington and Bogota’s historically strong relationship went through a rough patch as the ideologically opposed leaders butted heads over how to deal with drug trafficking.

Petro was even subjected to US sanctions at one point, but the pair have mended their relationship in recent months.

De la Espriella won June’s presidential runoff by less than a percentage point and has vowed to dismantle his predecessor’s “total peace” strategy of negotiating with guerrilla groups.

He also wants to build so-called “mega-prisons” and use pesticides to eradicate coca crops. AFP