The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced Friday, in a statement, that it is imposing sanctions on Colombian President Gustavo Petro, as well as on his son, his wife, and his Interior Minister Armando Benedetti, accusing them of failing to curb cocaine production in the country. “Since President Gustavo Petro took office, cocaine production in the country has risen to record levels not seen in decades, pouring into the United States to poison Americans,” denounced U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, as quoted in the statement.

The U.S. government specifically criticizes President Petro’s policy of “total peace,” which aims to pardon members of guerrilla organizations active in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as drug trafficking groups. Washington considers this policy to have “largely failed.” “Fighting drug trafficking for decades and with efficiency has led me to this measure (the sanctions) taken by a government whose country we helped reduce cocaine consumption,” wrote Gustavo Petro on X, denouncing what he called a “total paradox,” while assuring that he would not take “a step backward” nor “kneel down.”