“This is not just any gift basket, it is the result of the work of thousands of families who left coca and today are betting on legal economies,” stated the Directorate of Illicit Crop Substitution, the entity that organized the basket.
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The gift seeks to demonstrate that the voluntary substitution of illicit crops can become a real alternative for life and development for rural areas affected by drug trafficking. Each product is accompanied by a personalized card addressed to President Trump; Vice President, J.D. Vance; Secretary of State, Marco Rubio; Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles; and Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt. “We are peasant families from Colombia. For years we grew coca because we had no other option (…) we removed the coca from our land and began to sow honest work and future,” says, in English, the card that accompanies the products, which underlines that “they represent a country that transforms illegality into opportunity”. The gift basket is made up of export-quality coffee and chocolates made by 18,000 cocoa-growing families and 2,300 coffee-growing families linked from the beginning of this government to voluntary illicit crop substitution programs. The coffee, presented in 250-gram bags, comes from Algeria, in the troubled department of Cauca (southwest), one of the regions historically most affected by the armed conflict and drug trafficking. Petro will deliver these products to “Trump” on the occasion of the meeting they will hold this Tuesday at the “White House”, the first after months of diplomatic tensions. The meeting focuses on the fight against drug trafficking, bilateral cooperation and issues such as migration and the situation in Venezuela. During the crisis between both governments, Washington removed Colombia from the so-called “certification” in the fight against drugs and included the president and members of his entourage on the sanctions list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), accusing them of alleged links to drug trafficking. Petro rejected these accusations and has defended that his administration has managed to stop the growth of coca crops and increase drug seizures. The Director of Illicit Crop Substitution, Gloria Miranda, who is accompanying Petro in Washington, told EFE this Monday that she is confident that the president will be able to argue before Trump, “with compelling figures,” that his government is committed to that goal. “The expectation is to continue strengthening those historical relationships that Colombia and the United States have had and to tell the President of the United States directly what this Government’s perspective is on the fight against drug trafficking”, he affirmed. In addition to the crucial meeting with Trump, the Colombian president, who received a special visa for this trip, will have in his agenda in the American capital activities “oriented to political, academic and community dialogue” until February 5 when he will return to Bogota, according to the Presidency.
