Drug Cartels and U.S. Policy

Colombian security forces have killed five members of the Gulf Clan, the country’s largest drug cartel, including regional boss Wilson Dario Ruiz Velez, in a joint police–air force operation in Magdalena department on the Caribbean coast, the defense minister said Wednesday. The raid, which also resulted in two captures, comes just days before leftist President Gustavo Petro is due at the White House for talks with President Donald Trump on stemming cocaine flows from Colombia, the world’s top producer. The Trump administration last month designated the Gulf Clan a foreign terrorist organization, a move that legally paves the way for possible U.S. military action against its networks. The meeting follows a bitter public feud in which Washington sanctioned Petro and his family for alleged narco‑trafficking, Petro condemned Trump’s migrant deportations and deadly maritime strikes on suspected drug boats as illegal, and Trump warned Petro to "watch his ass" after ousting Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro. Petro’s government has been trying to negotiate the Gulf Clan’s disbandment in Qatar, but talks have yet to yield results, and Bogotá is simultaneously stepping up armed operations against the group.