Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Friday (October 24) that U.S. President Donald Trump has chosen "the mafia" as an ally, speaking at a massive rally after the Trump administration sanctioned him, alleging he refused to stop the flow of cocaine into the United States.

Petro addressed thousands of supporters gathered in Plaza de Bolivar in downtown Bogota during a rally called a week earlier to support a constituent reform effort.

Following the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions, the rally's focus shifted to Colombia–U.S. relations.

Petro disputes the basis for the U.S. allegations, saying his government has seized cocaine at unprecedented rates and that expansion of coca crops - the base ingredient for cocaine - has slowed every year since 2021.

The president said Colombian opposition politicians and businessmen sought U.S. support to sanction him, calling them "the mafia."

Tensions between Washington and many countries in the region have been mounting for weeks. The U.S. military has ratcheted up activity in the southern Caribbean, striking vessels in international waters that it has alleged without evidence are carrying drugs.

Trump this week called Petro an "illegal drug leader" after the leftist president accused the U.S. of committing "murder" with the strikes.

Petro, whose term will end in 10 months, has always opposed the strikes. He has attempted to end Colombia's six-decade conflict through peace and surrender deals with rebels and crime gangs, but those efforts have borne little fruit.

OFAC sanctions mean that a designated person's property and interests in property within the United States are blocked. All transactions by U.S. persons, or within the United States, involving any property or interests in property of the designated person are prohibited.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (OCTOBER 24, 2025) (REUTERS – Access all) (NIGHT SHOTS)

1. COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT GUSTAVO PETRO ARRIVING AT PLAZA BOLIVAR SQUARE WAVING AT SUPPORTERS

2. SUPPORTERS WAVING COLOMBIAN FLAGS, SIGNS AND CHEERING AT PLAZA

3. PETRO ON STAGE

4. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT GUSTAVO PETRO, SAYING:

“The summary of what has happened today in international grounds is no other than the government of the United States have decided to choose as an ally in Colombia the mafia and has attacked who attacked the mafia so that the North American society stopped consuming so much cocaine.”

5. SIGN READING (Spanish): “Full support. Petro”

6. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT GUSTAVO PETRO, SAYING:

"And I do believe that my last speech at the United Nations made a difference, and that is why they punish me today, and I mock the punishment; they could even look into how to extract the president of Colombia with the Mossad, with the CIA, with the DEA, to throw him in a prison somewhere where his voice cannot be heard."

7. SUPPORTERS AT SQUARE

8. BANNER READING (Spanish): “We support you”

9. PETRO ON STAGE

10. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT GUSTAVO PETRO, SAYING:

"From that we must learn, because to the current government of Mr. Trump, we must not respond by kneeling; we must respond, as humanity has already done, by standing firm and taking to the streets to defend people's rights, the rights of democracy not to be governed by tyrannies."

11. VARIOUS OF SUPPORTERS WITH FLAGS AND SIGNS CHANTING

12. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT GUSTAVO PETRO, SAYING:

"I've never done business; I don't have a dollar in the United States—there's no account to freeze. I have no desire, and I never will, to do business in the United States."

13. SUPPORTERS AT SQUARE

14. COLOMBIAN FLAG

15. SUPPORTERS CHANTING

16. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT GUSTAVO PETRO, SAYING:

"That is why this gathering in Plaza de Bolivar has an objective, which is not only to talk about Trump—we will not speak about him anymore in this government.”

17. SUPPORTERS WITH FLAGS AND SIGNS

18. SIGNS READING (Spanish): “Colombia must be respected” AND “The constituent power moves on”

19. SUPPORTERS WITH FLAGS AND SIGNS

20. SIGN READING (Spanish): “Colombia must be respected”

21. SUPPORTERS CHANTING