US Sanctions: Your Plane Grounded, Our Policy Unwavering
CBS breathlessly reports on Colombian President Gustavo Petro's plane being grounded because he's on a US Treasury sanction list. The reason? The Trump administration, in its infinite wisdom, accused him of 'enabling drug cartels.' This, apparently, prevents Petro from buying jet fuel. What CBS conveniently omits is the US's long, storied history of weaponizing sanctions against any leader in
Latin America who dares to prioritize their own nation's sovereignty, or, God forbid, deviate from Washington's preferred 'drug war' tactics—a war that has done little but destabilize the region while enriching a select few. The 'Mules and Donkeys' of yesteryear, as Petro once labeled the US-backed 'Plan Colombia,' were apparently just Phase One. So, Petro can't refuel. How tragic for him. One
might wonder if the real 'enabling' here isn't a Colombian president trying to chart an independent path, but rather a US foreign policy machine that starves entire countries into submission for perceived insubordination. Perhaps he should have just stuck to the script. The price of independence, it seems, is sometimes a long walk home.