Pushing back on WashingtonPetro, however, has highlighted his interdiction efforts as a means of refuting Trump’s claims that he has allowed cocaine to flow unchecked.The subject reportedly came up during a call between the two heads of state in January. Petro suggested that Trump had been unfamiliar with the amounts of cocaine Colombia has seized.“The United States doesn’t know anything about that,” he told CBS News after the call.At other times, Petro has leaned on his interdiction record to push back on Trump’s hardline anti-narcotics policy.In September, Trump and his allies announced a campaign to bomb boats suspected of carrying drugs, arguing the strategy was more efficient than interdiction.”Interdiction doesn’t work,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. “What will stop them is when you blow them up, when you get rid of them.”Since then, the US military has bombed 47 boats, killing at least 163 people. Petro has condemned the strikes as “murders”, arguing they violate due process and international law.He has also held up his own interdiction strategy as a more effective model.When Colombia and the US led a joint maritime operation in February that resulted in nearly 10 tonnes of cocaine seized, Petro touted the outcome as proof that anti-narcotic …
