Colombia: Issues for the 118th Congress

Colombia: Issues for the 118th Congress

INSIGHTi

Colombia: Issues for the 118th Congress
June 14, 2023
Colombia historically has been a top U.S. ally and close security partner. Colombia’s prominence in
illegal drug production prompted the United States to forge close counter-drug ties with Colombia and
became the basis in 2000 for Plan Colombia, a U.S.-Colombian program focused on counternarcotics and
later counterterrorism. Over 22 years, the United States allocated almost $14 billion to Plan Colombia and
its successor strategies, which broadened to focus on human rights, trade, sustainable development, and
regional security. These programs—particularly security initiatives—have had support in Congress and
across the past five U.S. presidential administrations.
The 118th Congress may assess the extent to which Colombia’s current administration under Gustavo
Petro, the country’s first leftist president, remains committed to the bilateral partnership and long-standing
U.S. security goals. Such assessments could influence congressional decisions regarding the amount and
type of foreign assistance appropriated for Colombia and whether to attach legislative conditions to such
assistance.
New Direction Under President Petro
Some observers anticipated a shift in bilateral relations with the June 2022 election of Petro, a former
leftist guerrilla, an opposition legislator for nearly 20 years, and the former mayor of Bogotá. Petro has
been an outspoken critic of human rights abuses by Colombia’s security forces during the years of close
U.S. cooperation under Plan Colombia and its successors.
In his campaign, Petro pledged to fully implement the 2016 peace accord signed with Colombia’s largest
insurgent and drug-trafficking group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC); progress in
the peace process had slowed under President Iván Duque (2018-2022). During his first 100 days in
office, President Petro criticized the current approach to the drug war, including a decades-long U.S.-
Colombia effort that prioritized eradication and aerial spraying of coca. He also reestablished diplomatic
relations and reopened the border for trade with neighboring Venezuela after seven years of closures. He
opened peace talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN), a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist group,
and presently Colombia’s largest insurgent threat. Colombia’s congress approved Petro’s 2023 budget in
late 2022 and his four-year development plan in early May 2023. Such measures are key to funding
Petro’s ambitious domestic reforms and implementing his banner “Total Peace” program—an effort to
end violence by remaining insurgent groups and other criminal armed actors and to restore security to
rural areas of Colombia.
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As of early June 2023, Petro’s agenda had stalled and his popularity eroded. Efforts to obtain the
surrender of Colombia’s largest crime groups and negotiations with the ELN and FARC splinter groups
had faltered. Contrary to some observers’ expectations, violence in the Colombian countryside had
increased. During his first year in office, Petro initiated two major cabinet shakeups, endured the fracture
of his multiparty majority coalition, and saw his approval ratings decline to below 30%. These setbacks
left observers doubting that Petro’s priority health, labor, and pension reforms would survive intact.
Scandals over alleged illegal campaign financing broke in early June 2023, freezing congressional
consideration of Petro’s proposed legislation and calling into question his ability to recoup support.
Issues for Consideration
Congress may examine four areas of prior bilateral cooperation: counternarcotics, peace and human
rights, irregular migration, and approaches toward Venezuela.
Counternarcotics. The Biden Administration has embraced what it terms a “holistic approach” to combat
production and trafficking of coca and cocaine, to include promoting rural justice, security, and
development and countering money laundering and corruption. In April 2023, Presidents Biden and Petro
met at the White House and identified common approaches to combating illicit drugs—reducing demand
through science-based prevention and expanded bilateral cooperation in intelligence sharing and drug
interdiction.
Peace and Human Rights. The U.S. government has supported efforts to bring justice and law
enforcement to remote areas of Colombia and reduce continued violence and threats to human rights and
other activists. The Biden Administration backs Petro’s policy of fulfilling the terms of the 2016 peace
accord, including the accord’s ethnic chapter to safeguard the rights of Afro-descendant, Indigenous, and
other ethnic Colombians. The effectiveness of Petro’s Total Peace program in reducing violence remains
uncertain. Some analysts argue that a patchwork of peace deals or criminal surrenders may fragment
existing groups and spur violence between disarming groups and those eager to replace them.
Migration. Colombia hosts 2.5 million Venezuelan migrants and has granted many of them a decade of
temporary protected status. U.S. support for Venezuelans and their host communities in Colombia reached
$227 million in FY2022. Colombia is also working with the United States to stem northward migrant
flows. In April 2023, Colombia, with Panama and the United States, announced a 60-day coordinated
enforcement campaign to deter the illicit movement of people from Colombia to Panama through the
border-straddling Darién Gap (see Figure 1). In June 2023, the State Department announced Colombia
would host regional processing centers for lawful migration pathways to enter the United States, with a
six-month pilot slated to begin on June 19.
Figure 1.Colombia and the Darién Gap Region

Source: CRS.

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Venezuela. Prior Colombian governments’ efforts to push for democratic change in Venezuela have been
reshaped under Petro. His approach of engagement is reflected in the several visits to Caracas he made to
normalize relations and his promotion of regional efforts to resolve the Venezuelan crises. In April 2023,
Petro hosted a conference to adopt a common approach in which 20 countries, including the United
States, participated. Some analysts, however, question Petro’s potential role as an unbiased broker.
Issues for Congress
In its FY2024 budget request, the Biden Administration proposed $444 million in State Department and
U.S. Agency for International Development funding for Colombia. The request focuses on U.S.
objectives, such as counternarcotics and migration management, and on joint priorities (e.g., peace accord
implementation, forest conservation). The FY2024 request would reduce U.S. assistance by 9.4% from
allocated U.S. FY2022 funding for Colombia, including cuts to some law enforcement and narcotics
supply control programs. As Congress evaluates the budget request and carries out oversight of U.S.
policy toward Colombia, it may examine the Petro administration’s policies and the state of U.S.-
Colombian cooperation.

Author Information

June S. Beittel
Ramon Miro
Analyst in Latin American Affairs
Analyst in Latin American Affairs

Disclaimer
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