‘War on drugs’: Colombia calls for Latin American bloc, past military approach has ‘failed’

Name: US charges Chinese manufacturers for alleged fentanyl ingredient trafficking in landmark case
Uploaded: 2023-09-10T06:14:08.000Z
Duration: 2 min 23 s
Description: US charges Chinese manufacturers for alleged fentanyl ingredient trafficking in landmark case

Colombian President Gustavo Petro urges Latin America to see drug consumption as a public health problem instead of from a military perspective

Mexico says the region needs to support the United States in its fight against the fentanyl ‘pandemic’

2-MIN READ2-MIN

President of Colombia Gustavo Petro hugs Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at the Latin American and Caribbean Conference on Drugs. Photo: Handout/ Reuters

Reuters

Published: 2:14pm, 10 Sep 2023

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has proposed an alliance between Latin American countries to bring a unified voice to the fight against drug trafficking, by recognising drug consumption as a public health problem instead of confronting it with what he called a “failed” militarised approach.

Petro, the first leftist president in Colombia’s history, closed the Latin American and Caribbean Conference on Drugs, which was held in the city of Cali, by saying that 50 years of a failed war on drugs had resulted in immeasurable bloodshed and pain in Latin America.

“What I propose is to have a different and unified voice that defends our society, our future and our history and stops repeating a failed discourse,” said the Colombian president.

“It is time to rebuild hope and not repeat the bloody and ferocious wars, the ill-named ‘war on drugs’, viewing drugs as a military problem and not as a health problem for society,” Petro said.

02:23

US charges Chinese manufacturers for alleged fentanyl ingredient trafficking in landmark case

Colombia, like other Latin American countries, faces persistent violence resulting from drug trafficking and the presence of cartels with growing firepower and economic might, according to security sources and analysts.