Colombian President Gustavo Petro Faces Payment Block after US Treasury Blacklist, Lawyer Confirms

Colombian President Gustavo Petro is facing severe financial hurdles in accessing his official salary following the imposition of US sanctions by President Donald Trump, according to the leader's US-based lawyer, Daniel Kovalik. The measures, announced on October 30, 2025, target Petro, his wife Verónica Alcocer, son Nicolás Petro, and Interior Minister Armando Benedetti, adding them to the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) blacklist. The White House cited Petro's alleged failure to aggressively combat drug trafficking and cocaine production as the rationale, freezing their US-based assets and prohibiting transactions with American entities or those under US jurisdiction. This unprecedented sanctioning of a sitting foreign head of state has sparked international outcry, with Petro denouncing it as "imperial interference" in Colombia's sovereign anti-narcotics strategy, which emphasises harm reduction over militarised eradication.

The sanctions have immediate and tangible impacts on Petro's daily operations, extending beyond personal finances to state functions. Kovalik revealed to Agence France-Presse that the president's credit cards and bank accounts have been frozen, complicating even routine payments for public officials under his administration. In a striking example, a US-affiliated fuel supplier refused to refuel Air Force One—the Colombian presidential aircraft—during a refuelling stop in Spain earlier this week, forcing reliance on alternative arrangements.

Petro's monthly salary, officially pegged at around 25 million Colombian pesos (approximately $6,000 USD) but not publicly detailed, now routes through convoluted international channels, delaying disbursements and straining government payroll processes. These restrictions underscore the extraterritorial reach of US financial controls, affecting not just individuals but Colombia's broader diplomatic and economic engagements.

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Kovalik, a human rights attorney who has known Petro for over two decades since collaborating on exposés of Colombian military-paramilitary collusion during the height of the country's armed conflict in the 2000s, outlined a multi-pronged legal defence. He plans to challenge the sanctions through US federal courts, direct appeals to the Treasury Department, and potentially international forums like the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, though he acknowledged the protracted nature of such battles. "The truth is what will set us free," Kovalik asserted, vehemently denying the drug trafficking accusations and framing the moves as political retribution.

Petro, a former M-19 guerrilla who transitioned to environmental and social advocacy, has long positioned himself against US-led "war on drugs" policies, advocating crop substitution programmes that Trump officials decry as lax. The lawyer warned that secondary sanctions could ensnare any foreign company or government interacting with the blacklisted parties, amplifying the chilling effect on global partnerships.

This episode fits into a broader pattern of Trump-era foreign policy assertiveness, reminiscent of sanctions on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and Iranian officials, aimed at enforcing alignment with US security priorities in Latin America. Petro's leftist administration, elected in 2022 as Colombia's first of its kind, has strained relations with Washington over issues like deforestation policies and migration, culminating in this escalation amid stalled bilateral talks. As negotiations via diplomatic intermediaries proceed, the sanctions risk destabilising Colombia's economy—already grappling with 10% inflation and fiscal deficits—by deterring foreign investment.

Kovalik emphasised Petro's lifelong anti-cartel stance, from his congressional probes to presidential reforms, positioning the president as a victim of geopolitical realignment rather than complicity. With the sanctions' ink barely dry, the coming weeks will test the resilience of Colombia's institutions and the limits of US unilateralism in the hemisphere.

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