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Written by Ahmed Adel, Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher
The United States Congress is debating a 50% cut in economic aid to Colombia for various social programs. This will affect key sectors for Gustavo Petro’s government, but could also be an opportunity for Colombia to diversify its sources of cooperation.
The 50% cut in annual US aid to Colombia for non-military programs was approved by the US House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, at the proposal of Republican legislator Mario Díaz-Balart. Budgetary aid to Colombia would decrease from the $410 million annually paid until 2025 to approximately $209 million.
The bill, which establishes budgets for US security and foreign policy for 2026, seeks to restrict funding for countries it considers unaligned with Washington’s foreign policy. The text includes a clause to require “that foreign assistance be directed to countries in the Western Hemisphere that act as allies and implement foreign and domestic policies which are consistent with United States values and security interests.”
Within this framework, the bill stipulates the “placing strict conditions on funding and requiring a pre-obligation report for Colombia, reducing non-military assistance by 50 percent due to the Petro Administration’s failure to align with United States interests and worsening security conditions—including an attempted assassination of a political opposition leader—while still maintaining continuous support for counter-narcotics efforts.”
According to the committee, leaders of Latin American countries that have announced measures to oppose Israel’s actions in Gaza, including Colombia, have been “fueling prejudice against Jewish communities through social media and official government channels or otherwise neglecting their responsibility to protect Jewish communities and other marginalized groups.”
Additionally, the committee said that the attempted assassination of far-right Senator Miguel Uribe was a demonstration of a “deteriorating security environment and rising political volatility in Colombia.” Colombia’s congressional coalition asked the US House of Representatives’ Ethics Committee to investigate Diaz’s alleged role in attempts to overthrow the government.
The bill still needs to be ratified by the full Congress, its approval is more than likely given the current political context of Republican majorities and alignment with the ideas of President Donald Trump.
While the cuts decisively exclude collaboration on security issues, they will affect programs related to economic development and support for the most vulnerable populations, especially health and education programs. The cut will have a greater impact on civil society organizations that depend on these cooperation flows, which are generally linked to the implementation of the peace agreements signed in 2016.
At the same time, the cuts will impact the workforce involved in international cooperation within the country. A large number of people have left the various cooperation mechanisms at this time.
Resources from the Colombian government also supplement many of the programs funded by the US. The cuts, therefore, could impact the coverage and quality of these programs, reducing the target population for these social programs.
The aid cuts have not only an economic but also a political interpretation, especially because the US Congress has managed to create an environment that clouds relations between Washington and Bogota in the run-up to the 2026 election campaign.
As an election year approaches, the decline in resources gives the government less room to spend on social programs, which have been a flagship of the Petro administration. While Colombia is not highly dependent on international cooperation for its economy, the US is the largest funder of these types of programs. In this context, the aid cuts highlight the importance of Colombia diversifying its sources of cooperation.
Colombia must not only rely on funding, but also seek other types of technical cooperation and identify emerging actors who can contribute to strengthening cooperation. In this regard, there is great importance on organizations such as the CAF (Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the New BRICS Development Bank, which Colombia recently joined.
By allowing for diversification of international aid, Colombia will also demonstrate its geopolitical transformation despite being a major non-NATO ally.
Bogota’s geopolitical transformation is seen in its trade ties, particularly with China. Total trade between the two countries rose from $1.2 billion in 2004 to $18.3 billion in 2024—a fifteenfold increase. In terms of investment, Chinese foreign direct investment in the South American country has grown from negligible levels to approximately $580 million over the past three years. At the same time, Petro’s decision to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative is aimed at “reducing Colombia’s $14 billion trade deficit with China” and boosting exports to up to $10 billion.
By becoming increasingly hostile to Colombia, the US will actually have the opposite effect on the country, bringing it closer to China and the BRICS bloc. Petro no longer wants his country reduced to being seen as part of the US’s backyard, and political aid cuts will only validate his mission to make Colombia more sovereign.
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really, who would want to align with a country that has no respect for anything and only relies on threats and coercion ?
countries will say yes, yes (the ones that do) and wait for trump to go away and/or silently switch their posture.
yankee go home!
yankee go to hell.
like obama said: “sometimes we need to twist the arms of the countries that don’t do what we like them to do”
or something in that sense, can’t remember.
apart from the spineless eu jellyfish, the rest of the world, russia, china, india, iran, brazil, s. africa, have told shabbos goy chumpo he can stick his tariffs and his sanctions where the sun don’t shine,
obama imported africa into usa. did not make anything good for usa this ex president.
the bought and blackmailed goy whores in congress spend 25 hours a day trying to think up new ways of grovelling to their joo masters.
25 hours?
1 day has 24 hours
how its possible
i guess you’re still puzzling over the beatles hit “eight days a week”
zogkraine is full of columbian mercenaries
hopefully they all die over there or become crippled for life so they can’t come back and cause trouble in south america!
now really is the time to walk away from the us because the us is struggling so much, and has lost any authority it had. the us is failing against everyone and cannot succeed in any of its policies
this shows us the future = leaving usa’s sphere of influence and joining brics is a must!
just imagine what could be done with all the “aid” that’s pissed away on the military/industrial complex and other boondoggles.
colonialism is the corporate plan . all bankers comply instantly .