At a meeting of regional leaders on the Caribbean island of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said the anti-drug policies of the United States have caused a “genocide” in Latin America.

“We have lived through a genocide of a million Latin Americans in the last half-century,” Petro said, noting that the American drug strategy was based on “repression” and not on “prevention and public health”. 

“The result could not be more dramatic, more failed,” he said. 

During the meeting as well, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines stated that "maintaining regional peace is a mission to confront imperialism and hegemony," noting that "peace in Latin America is often undermined by the smuggling of US-made weapons to border-crossing gangs."

Guterres praises Latin American leaders for pursuing peace

At the same meeting, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, alongside leaders like Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, praised Latin American leaders for their unwavering pursuance of peace.

He emphasized that these efforts help combat poverty, hunger, threats to social cohesion, and the climate crisis. He highlighted that arms and drug trafficking are significant threats in Latin America, and the United Nations will support initiatives that help mitigate their consequences.

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In that context, he warned about the dangerous situation in Ecuador as it combats drug traffickers. 

Guterres reiterated calls for international aid to Haiti - the poorest nation in the Americas - while it fights a surge in conflict from armed gangs threatening to oust Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

Haiti has been battling this conflict for the past two years, as a UN Secretary-General’s office report warned that violence by gangs which control the capital Port-au-Prince, continues to intensify.