06/06/2026

SATURDAY | JUNE 6, 2026

9

Trump accused of backing ‘narco-traffickers’ in Colombia

US Senate debates immigration funding Bill

BOGOTA: Colombia’s outgoing President Gustavo Petro tore into his US counterpart Donald Trump on Thursday for supporting a hard-right candidate to succeed him, accusing Washington of allying itself with the “narco-traffickers” it professes to combat. The famously outspoken Petro was reacting to Trump’s full-throated endorsement of tough-talking lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella over a leftist senator in Colombia’s presidential election. De la Espriella, 47, made a fortune representing drug-trafficking paramilitaries, fraudsters and soccer stars. He generated surprise by defeating leftist Senator Ivan Cepeda, an ally of Petro, in the first round of voting in last Sunday’s presidential election. The two will face off again in a June 21 runoff. Trump on Tuesday backed de la Espriella, citing his “tremendous accomplishments in life and his political support for me”. o Washington implementing ideological policy to divide world between those who think like them and those who do not: Outgoing president

agreement the pair struck in February not to interfere in Colombia’s election. “What they (the United States) are implementing is an ideological policy that divides the world between those who think like them and those of us who do not.” Last year, Trump imposed sanctions on Petro, calling him a “drug leader” for failing to rein in soaring cocaine production and trafficking. Colombia is the world’s biggest producer of the drug. Trump and Petro also clashed over Trump’s migrant deportations and campaign of deadly strikes on suspected Latin American drug boats. However, they smoothed over the tensions during Petro’s visit to the White House in February. The Colombian presidential election has been dominated by the worst wave of violence in the decade since the Marxist rebel army Farc agreed to a landmark peace deal with the state in 2016. While Colombia has thrived in the years since, pockets of the country remain gripped by armed groups vying for control of cocaine routes, illegal gold mining and extortion. De la Espriella has rejected Petro’s policy of trying to negotiate with the guerrillas and vows instead to crush them militarily. Cepeda, who helped negotiate the 2016 peace deal and design Petro’s “total peace” strategy, has vowed to prioritise dialogue and social upliftment in rebel-held areas. – AFP

Petro, Colombia’s first left-wing leader, has criticised Trump’s meddling in the campaign. “Their (US) allies in Colombia come from the narco-paramilitary regime. They are genocidal and drug traffickers,” he told AFP in an interview at the presidential palace. Trump has sought to influence several recent elections in Latin America by backing right-wingers who talk tough on crime and migration against leftists who he dismisses as Marxists. De la Espriella has promised to deepen US-Colombian relations “like never before” if elected. He has the backing of hardline former president Alvaro Uribe, who is accused of colluding with paramilitaries behind the massacres of thousands of civilians during the worst years of Colombia’s conflict. Petro and Cepeda accuse the paramilitaries of committing a “genocide” of leftist political activists and politicians, including Cepeda’s father, a communist senator who was assassinated in 1994. For their part, the Colombian right and Trump administration accuse Petro of being soft on left-wing guerrilla groups, some of whom continue to fight the state and live off cocaine trafficking. Petro expressed “regret” that “figures and governments who want to fight drug trafficking are actually helping to bring crime to political power in Colombia”. He also accused Trump of reneging on an

WASHINGTON: The US Senate laboured over a $70-billion (RM282 billion) immigration enforcement Bill late into the night on Thursday, as Republicans rejected more than a dozen Democratic amendments, including attempts to kill an “anti-weaponisation” fund that President Donald Trump has sought. The $70 billion would help pay for Trump’s controversial migrant deportation crackdown over the next three years and augment about $100 billion in unspent Homeland Security Department law enforcement money enacted last year by Republicans, who control Congress. If the Senate manages to pass the new funding, the House of Representatives could debate it as soon as next week. Lawmakers began voting on amendments to the immigration Bill in a “vote-a-rama” session on Thursday that was expected to end in a vote on the underlying measure by yesterday. An initial move by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to kill what Democrats call a “slush fund” for Trump’s allies brought the session to a largely procedural halt for hours after Republican Senator Susan Collins voted for the motion. She was later joined by fellow Republicans Jon Husted and Dan Sullivan. Schumer’s measure failed in a 50-49 vote but exposed the political turmoil among rank-and-file Senate Republicans. Some of them sought their own amendments to eliminate the fund permanently, five months before the November midterm elections. The fund, which critics say would allow Trump to use taxpayer dollars to compensate his political allies, has already been put on hold by the White House and Justice Department over fierce opposition from Senate Republicans. But on Wednesday, Trump declined to say whether the fund has actually been terminated and instead said: “I love it. I think it is so important.” Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who opposed Schumer’s motion, said he would not support passage of the funding Bill without a Republican amendment vote to codify acting Attorney-General Todd Blanche’s congressional testimony that the administration is abandoning the fund. Tillis argued that failing to do so would place a burden on congressional Republicans up for re-election in November who are worried about a voter backlash to the fund. Nearly all of the Bill’s $70 billion would go to Homeland Security Department Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agencies that are carrying out the Trump administration’s vigorous deportations throughout the United States. Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who proposed his own amendment to end the fund, joined Democratic Senator Cory Booker in a friend-of-the-court brief urging US District Judge Leonie Brinkema to maintain the block on Trump’s fund that she imposed last week. They said the fund“presents an immediate and dire threat to our constitutional order and the authority of Congress”. There were concerns that some House Republicans could oppose the measure if it contains language to kill Trump’s fund. A number of recent actions by Trump have prompted open criticism from some Republicans, from seeking $1 billion in taxpayer funding for a White House ballroom and security upgrades to his decision to nominate Blanche as attorney-general and name political ally Bill Pulte as US intelligence chief. – Reuters

COLOURFUL CELEBRATION ... Brotherhood of the Dancing Devils of Tarma members taking part in a procession during the Corpus Christi festival in Tarma, Venezuela. – REUTERSPIC

Energy crisis hampering healthcare in Cuba, says UN HAMILTON: The United Nation (UN) said on Thursday Cuba’s worsening energy crisis is severely affecting essential services, including healthcare, food production and humanitarian aid operations, Anadolu Ajansi reported.

following tighter US restrictions, including an oil embargo imposed in January. The United States also imposed sanctions on Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and several other individuals and entities on Thursday to ramp up pressure on the island country, Xinhua news agency reported. The US Treasury Department has added Diaz-Canel, four other individuals and five entities, including Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces Ministry, to the Specially Designated Nationals List, according to an update posted on the department’s website. – Bernama-Anadolu

and electricity.” Dujarric noted that “more than 100,000 surgeries have been postponed due to a shortage of medicines and medical supplies”. He added that the UN and its partners have “a plan of action to assist up to two million people” but the energy crisis is hampering relief efforts. “The energy crisis is also limiting our ability to deliver aid, with dozens of containers of food and medical supplies still sitting in ports due to a lack of fuel to get them out of the ports.” Cuba has faced severe fuel shortages and widespread power outages in recent months

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the combined effect of “the energy crisis, following US executive orders and other sanctions, alongside hurricanes and other natural disasters, is far-reaching and expanding daily”. “All basic services, from clean water and sanitation to food production and the health sector, have been impacted by the lack of fuel