President Gustavo Petro asks Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to hold a security conference to unite efforts against drug trafficking.

This Friday, the Casa de Nariño was the main venue for the meeting of the presidents of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) with Indigenous authorities and members of civil society. The central topic, as expected, was the preservation of the Amazon rainforest in the face of ongoing deforestation.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro's speech focused specifically on the need to unite efforts to combat the mafias destroying the Amazon.

He addressed Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva directly: "I ask you to help us hold this South American security conference, considering the complexity of the problems. I have only mentioned drug trafficking, which is cornering democracies or leading to the possibility of the destruction of the Amazon rainforest."

Along these lines, he called for coordination among the "Ministries of Defense of South America, Latin America, and the Caribbean, the Armed Forces, and police intelligence agencies" to combat the drug trafficking organizations that are destroying the Amazon rainforest to plant illicit crops.

In that same episode, Petro briefly mentioned the US presence in international waters off the coast of Venezuela, arguing that it is to curb drug trafficking in the region. "Drug trafficking is being used as an excuse for a military invasion," the president said.

He specifically used the US theme to talk about how they would be responsible for part of the Amazon deforestation, pointing out that it would be forcing the Venezuelan regime to find ways to launder money by expanding the agricultural frontier into areas of the jungle.

"They want to use Venezuelan funds, a system of money laundering due to the blockade. The blockade is destroying the Amazon rainforest. That's why we have to come together to save the Amazon rainforest," said the Colombian president.

On the other hand, the president spoke out against any potential oil exploitation in the Amazon, which has been interpreted as a direct message to his Brazilian counterpart, as there are plans to carry out such projects in the Amazon Delta.

"As president of Colombia, I fully support the position of the Amazonian indigenous communities that there can be no hydrocarbon exploitation or extraction in the Amazon rainforest," he declared.

Juan Sebastian Lombo Delgado