In brief
The US Treasury Department has officially designated Clan del Golfo, a prominent Colombian drug gang, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) to combat the rising fentanyl crisis. This action comes shortly after President Trump labeled fentanyl as a 'weapon of mass destruction.' The designation complicates ongoing peace initiatives between Clan del Golfo and the Colombian government, which recently entered negotiations aimed at curbing violence and drug trafficking. The US continues to enhance its military operations against drug trade routes in a broader war on drugs, raising tensions between Washington and Bogotá.
The United States has designated a notorious drug-trafficking organization in Colombia as a terrorist group.
The US Treasury Department added the group, known as Clan del Golfo or Gulf Clan, to its list of Foreign Terrorist Organisations (FTOs).
The designation came just hours after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order classifying the drug fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction.
The two moves are seen as a further ramping-up of the Trump administration's war on drugs which has also seen it carry out more than 20 lethal strikes on boats suspected to be carrying drugs in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
More than 90 people were killed in the strikes on the boats, which some legal experts say breach the law.
Clan del Golfo is the latest Latin American criminal group to be added to the US Treasury's list of FTOs.
The group has been engaging in criminal activities for decades, mainly trafficking cocaine from Colombia - the largest producer of the drug - to destinations in the US and Europe.
But the Clan del Golfo, which is based in the northern Urabá region of Colombia, also plays a key role in smuggling migrants through the Darién Gap, the expanse of jungle linking Colombia to Panama.
In a statement announcing its designation as an FTO, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the group was also behind terrorist attacks against public officials, law enforcement and military personnel, and civilians in Colombia.
It is estimated to have thousands of members and is thought to be the largest cocaine-trafficking gang currently operating in Colombia.
It joins three other Colombian criminal groups on the list of FTOs: the left-wing guerrilla group National Liberation Army (ELN), and two groups which broke away from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - a Marxist guerrilla force - when it signed a peace agreement with the Colombian government in 2016.
The FTO designation of the Clan del Golfo by the US comes less than a fortnight after Colombia's President, Gustavo Petro, signed a landmark agreement with the criminal group aimed at bringing peace to the areas under its control.
Petro campaigned on a promise to bring total peace to the South American country, which has for decades suffered from cartel and guerrilla violence.
However, the announcement earlier this month that Colombian government officials had reached an agreement with the Clan del Golfo for the group to start taking steps towards laying down their arms was a win for Petro.
Part of that deal was an understanding that members of the Clan del Golfo would not face extradition to the UN.
The US designating Clan del Golfo as an FTO is likely to complicate the talks the Colombian government was having with the group.
Petro has not yet reacted to the move, but relations between the Colombian leader and the Trump administration have been acrimonious.
Petro has called the lethal strikes the US has carried out on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Pacific murder.
In turn, Rubio has publicly labelled the Colombian president a lunatic.
The immediate effect of the FTO designation is that the US will have more powers to punish the group. Any assets the Clan del Golfo may hold at US financial institutions are frozen and individuals - even US citizens - who knowingly provide material support to the group can be prosecuted.
The move comes amid high tension in the region, with Trump repeatedly warning that strikes on land against narco-terrorists could soon follow those against alleged drug vessels at sea.
The executive order Trump signed on Monday classifying fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction suggests he may be engaging in a twin-track approach, continuing to target boats suspected of carrying cocaine as well as expanding his administration's powers to fight fentanyl-smuggling.
However, the move has been met with criticism by Mexico's President, Claudia Sheinbaum, who insisted that the causes of drug use must be addressed.
She added that fentanyl was also used legally in hospitals for pain relief and questioned what the unintended effects of the classification of fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction would be.
