Petro accuses US of targeting him over CIA Pegasus revelation
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Venezuela has condemned the US decision as neocolonial and illegal.
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Colombian President Gustavo Petro speaks during a swearing-in ceremony of the new national police director in Bogota, Colombia on October 24, 2025. (AP)
Colombian President Gustavo Petro has accused the United States of politically targeting him after being placed on the US Treasury Department's sanctions list, following his public statements about the CIA’s funding of the Israeli Pegasus spyware program.
The Treasury Department said the action is part of a broader US strategy to combat narcotics trafficking networks across Latin America. The US sanctions on Gustavo Petro mark one of the most significant escalations in Washington’s policy toward Colombia since Petro’s election.
In a statement on Friday evening, Petro said he was sanctioned because he told the people of Colombia the CIA funded the Israeli Pegasus spy program.
He emphasized that he had no financial ties to the US, citing that he does not have a "single dollar in the United States and there is no account to freeze."
Petro further said that Colombian businessmen and "fake politicians" pressured far-right elements in the United States to take action against him, directly addressing former US President Donald Trump:
"Mr. Trump, the businessmen and fake politicians who have now become your allies are the Colombian mafia."
Venezuela rejects US measures against Colombian President
The Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a strong condemnation of the US sanctions, describing them as “illegal, illegitimate, and neocolonial.” Caracas stated that the measures were intended to criminalize Petro and destabilize Colombia internally.
The ministry further praised Petro as "the only Colombian president to have directly confronted drug trafficking networks," and warned that the US actions undermine sovereignty and democratic stability in the region.
The United States imposed sanctions on Colombian President Gustavo Petro, his son Nicolas Petro, First Lady Veronica Alcocer, and Interior Minister Armando Benedetti, according to a statement from the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Monday.
The move comes under Washington’s latest counter-narcotics designations, which target individuals allegedly linked to illicit financial activities.
