ISTANBUL

Colombia's Interior Minister Armando Benedetti criticized the US on Friday after being placed on its sanctions list, stressing that he has no connection to the drug trafficking allegations.

“For having defended the dignity of the country and stated that the president @petrogustavo is not a drug trafficker, they put me on the OFAC (US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control) list without me having attacked them,” Benedetti wrote on US social media platform X.

Saying that he has never entered the house of even a single drug trafficker, Benedetti said: “That shows that every empire is unjust and that its anti-drug fight is a sham for armamentism. In this country, no one buys the story that I am a drug trafficker.”

“For the US, a non-violent statement is the same as being a drug trafficker. Gringos go home,” he added.

President Gustavo Petro’s son, Nicolas Petro, who was added to the sanctions list with his father, criticized the decision as politically motivated.

“For the sole fact of being the son of @petrogustavo they unjustly put me on the clinton list. An unprecedented political and judicial persecution. I will go to international organizations to defend my rights,” he said.

The US announced Friday that it imposed sanctions on the Colombian president, citing his administration's alleged failure to combat the illicit drug trade.

The OFAC aid the designation includes restrictions on Petro's immediate family and close associates.