Two US federal prosecutors investigating Colombian President Gustavo Petro over alleged narco ties
The probes, led by Manhattan and Brooklyn offices, are in early stages and it remains unclear whether charges will follow
Colombian President Gustavo Petro is the subject of a criminal investigation by at least two US federal prosecutors over alleged links to international drug trafficking, The New York Times reported Thursday, citing three people with knowledge of the matter.
The previously undisclosed investigations are being conducted by the federal prosecutors’ offices in Manhattan and Brooklyn, with the involvement of agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). According to the Times, investigators are examining whether Petro met with drug traffickers and whether his 2022 presidential campaign solicited donations from such organisations. The two probes are independent of one another and remain at an early stage; it is unclear whether either will result in formal charges.
Sources cited by the Times indicated there is no sign that the White House played a role in opening the investigations. Even so, the most recent precedent dates to last October, when the Treasury Department sanctioned Petro, his wife and his eldest son over alleged narco ties. At the time, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) stated that under President Petro, cocaine production in Colombia has skyrocketed to record levels and that he had offered benefits to narco-terrorist organisations. His eldest son was flagged for having admitted to receiving money from someone previously linked to drug trafficking.
Petro has consistently rejected the allegations. He has argued that the rise in cocaine production has been less dramatic than under previous administrations and that Colombian authorities have seized more drugs during his tenure than in the past. He attributed the Treasury sanctions to the influence of Colombian-American Republican Senator Bernie Moreno and has repeatedly denied that illicit funds entered his 2022 campaign.
The news emerges against a backdrop of cautious rapprochement between Bogotá and Washington. After a 2025 defined by mutual tariff threats, hostile public statements and the revocation of Petro’s US visa, a meeting at the White House in early February helped reset the bilateral relationship. Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio confirmed this week that Petro’s visa has been restored, though Treasury sanctions remain in place. He sees this as an unjust punishment that will surely be lifted at some point, the minister said.
The political fallout lands in the middle of an election campaign. Colombians will choose Petro’s successor on May 31, with a potential runoff on June 21. The right has sought to make Washington ties a central issue; far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella said recently, after meeting Senator Moreno, that the best diplomatic, strategic and commercial relations are yet to come between our two countries. On the left, candidate Iván Cepeda told EL PAÍS he has no doubt the White House views him as the candidate to beat, and alleged that right-wing figures have travelled to Washington and Florida to push for investigations against him.
