Colombian media reported that companies operating at Madrid-Barajas Airport refused to refuel the plane of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, which was traveling to Saudi Arabia.
The reason for this refusal lies in the fact that Petro is on the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) list, popularly known as the 'Clinton List'. This list includes individuals whom the U.S. government considers linked to illicit activities, such as drug trafficking. In the case of the Colombian head of state, and without any evidence, attempts have been made to link him to this crime.
According to these press reports, companies responsible for supplying fuel to the presidential plane have US capital and, therefore, decided not to provide the fuel to avoid violating the regulations imposed by OFAC , and the US repercussions that this action could have.
Despite the airlines' refusal, President Petro's plane was able to refuel after being transferred to a military base in Madrid. This allowed the plane to continue its journey to Saudi Arabia.
The Colombian president, for his part, had previously thanked the Kingdom of Spain for its help with his trip.
This event occurs amid a climate of escalating threats from Washington against Bogotá. The U.S. Treasury Department recently added Petro, his wife Verónica Alcocer, his son Nicolás Petro, and Colombian Interior Minister Armando Benedetti to the OFAC list. This measure entails the freezing of their assets in the United States, as well as a prohibition on transactions with them. Petro responded that he owns no property in the U.S.
The controversy intensified further last month when the United States removed Colombia from its list of cooperating nations in the fight against drug trafficking. Moreover, in September, the U.S. government revoked President Petro's visa after his participation in an event in support of the Palestinian people in New York during the United Nations General Assembly, marking another point of contention between the two countries.
Petro has exposed the hypocrisy of the U.S. in the fight against drug trafficking. He stated that the Cartel of the Suns does not exist , and that it is a narrative invented by the White House to try to delegitimize President Nicolás Maduro and portray Venezuela as a narco-state. Petro clearly stated that it is a fabrication used to attack sovereign states .
The Colombian president asserted that the lucrative drug trade is headed by the Narcotics Cartel, whose leaders are millionaires living in New York, Miami, Madrid, and Dubai. Among other points, he affirmed that drug trafficking is combated with international cooperation and public policies, not with military deployments in the Caribbean —ordered by Washington, which threatens the peace of Venezuela and Latin America—nor by perpetrating extrajudicial killings, alluding to attacks against alleged drug-running boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific.