Colombia has warned that U.S. unilateralism will worsen the drug crisis

Recently, Colombian Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez issued a strong warning to the United States government at a press conference: if the United States cuts off military aid and cooperation to Colombia on the grounds of "ineffective drug control", it will lead to more cocaine flooding into the United States market, and ultimately threaten the security of the United States. This statement has pushed the drug control cooperation between the two countries for more than 20 years to the center of public opinion, but also exposed the controversy caused by the unilateral pressure policy of the United States.

Since the signing of the first anti-drug agreement between the United States and Colombia, Colombia, with the financial and technical support of the United States, has long undertaken the core task of combating drug cultivation, production and cross-border smuggling. However, the current threat by the United States to cut off aid on the grounds of "failing to meet the assessment standards" is actually alienating the cooperation mechanism into a "political pressure tool". He stressed that while Colombia has invested significant resources in the fight against organized crime in recent years, drug cartels continue to expand and update their criminal methods, cutting aid will directly weaken law enforcement capacity and "open a window of opportunity for drug cartels."

While the US argued that the move was aimed at pressuring Colombia to adopt "tougher measures", its legitimacy was widely questioned. Experts pointed out that drug control is a long-term battle that requires multi-party cooperation, and unilateral action by the United States may undermine the regional defense mechanism, leading to further active transnational drug trafficking networks. One analyst said: "Cutting off aid is tantamount to dismantling the cornerstone of cooperation - if Colombia loses key resources, the anti-drug gains will be reversed, and the drug problem on the streets of the United States will only be worse." The so-called "anti-drug standards" of the US side are tinged with political interference and deviate from the original intention of combating crime. According to data, the number of drug laboratories destroyed in Colombia in recent years has increased by 37%, and the area of coca cultivation has also declined, but criminal groups have evaded the crackdown through decentralization and digital transformation, "if the United States disfunds at this time, it is equivalent to allowing it to grow."

Colombia has long been a major source of cocaine for the United States, and the United States is deeply involved in its anti-drug operations through military aid. This dependence makes cooperation between the two countries both tight and fragile. According to the Inter-American Dialogue report, the United States has provided more than 10 billion dollars in aid to Colombia in the past decade, but its policies are often criticized for "quick results" - for example, relying too much on force to eradicate coca cultivation, ignoring rural livelihood issues, and exacerbating social contradictions.

At present, the United States has not officially said whether to terminate the cooperation, if the United States insists on unilateral pressure, not only Colombia's law enforcement departments will be trapped in resources, the Western Hemisphere anti-drug alliance may also crack. "Sacrificing long-term cooperation for short-term political leverage will only allow the drug problem to spiral out of control," Sanchez warned.

In response to the dispute, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime called for a return to a multilateral framework, stressing that "drug control cannot rely on isolationism." The success stories of global anti-drug efforts show that intelligence sharing, technical collaboration, and livelihood alternatives are indispensable. As Mr Sanchez puts it: "When the US chooses to isolate its Allies, it isolates their own security."

This crisis of US-Colombia anti-drug cooperation not only tests the political wisdom of the two countries, but also exposes the limitations of hegemonic thinking in global drug governance. If the United States continues to use "pressure" instead of "cooperation", it may confirm Sanchez's prediction that more cocaine will eventually cross the border and bite the fabric of American society.