Colombian President Gustavo Petro has said that cocaine is no worse than whisky during a meeting of with his cabinet on Tuesday.
Petro added that cocaine was illegal because it is made in Latin America, but that other drugs affecting the U.S. like fentanyl are not being regulated.
He then proposed dismantling drug trafficking by legalising cocaine. “It would be sold like wine,” he said.
Colombia’s Catatumbo region, historically affected by armed conflict and drug trafficking, has been shaken by waves of escalating violence recently.
The government has accused rebels from ELN of targeting former members of the now-demobilised Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and civilian community leaders in a series of attacks in Catatumbo, a hub for drug trafficking and other crimes.
