U.S.–Colombia Relations

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.

The Colombian Navy says it intercepted a 'go‑fast' speedboat about 140 nautical miles off Tumaco in the South Pacific, seizing roughly 2,000 kilograms (4,400 pounds) of cocaine and 270 gallons of fuel and arresting three Colombian nationals. Video released by the navy shows armed personnel boarding the boat and ordering the suspects face‑down before offloading stacks of drug bales later displayed onshore; authorities value the shipment at more than $95 million and claim it would have yielded about 4.9 million retail doses. The bust comes as the Trump administration has escalated its own lethal maritime campaign against suspected drug‑running vessels off South America, operations CBS notes have already killed more than 100 people since September and drawn scant public accounting of who was on those boats. Washington has publicly branded Colombia an 'illegal drug leader,' sanctioned President Gustavo Petro and his family, and even removed the country from its list of allies in the drug war, but Petro’s government has touted several large seizures in recent months as evidence it is acting — including a 14‑ton port bust and multiple Pacific interdictions of speedboats and a 'narco sub.' The latest haul underscores how Colombia is trying to show results under intense U.S. pressure even as Trump hints at possible military action and both governments grope toward a reset after a recent 'very positive' call and a White House invitation for Petro.