BOGOTA, Oct 3 (Reuters)听–听Colombian President Gustavo Petro and US聽Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday discussed stepping up intelligence sharing and other听诲谤耻驳听迟谤补蹿蹿颈肠办颈苍驳听measures but announced no agreements and听谤别尘补颈苍ed at odds on extraditing听诲谤耻驳听criminals.
Leftist former rebel Mr. Petro, who hosted Mr. Blinken in Bogota, has derided the US-led war on dr耻驳蝉听as a failure and called for a new international approach.
In a news conference after their meeting, Mr. Blinken said the two sides were “largely in sync” on the approach to听诲谤耻驳听trafficking, but there were no indications of new agreements on the issue and they reiterrated divergent views on the extradition of听诲谤耻驳听criminals.
Mr. Petro said听颁辞濒辞尘产颈补‘s priorities were the interdiction of dr耻驳蝉听before they are shipped out of听颁辞濒辞尘产颈补聽and going after those who run the trade, who were likely, he said, to be not in听颁辞濒辞尘产颈补‘s jungles but in Bogota, Medellin, Miami and even New York.
There were discussions on “doing more in terms of interdicting dr耻驳蝉听that are moving on the seas by boat, as well as enhancing even more our intelligence sharing to go after those who are responsible for听诲谤耻驳听trafficking,” Mr. Blinken said.
He added that Mr. Petro put “concrete ideas on the table” during the talks but made no mention of any specific agreements.
Mr. Blinken is on a week-long trip to听颁辞濒辞尘产颈补, Chile and Peru, which all have relatively new leftist leaders.聽
Mr. Petro repeated criticism of听颁辞濒辞尘产颈补‘s agreement with Washington on the extradition of听诲谤耻驳听traffickers. He聽聽that traffickers who comply with government surrender conditions and abandon the trade not be extradited to face charges abroad.
Mr. Blinken responded that extradition between the two countries had benefited justice and the victims of transnational crime.
“It’s one important tool to help dismantle the transnational criminal organizations that do so much damage to both of our societies. And we’ll continue to work closely together on this,” Mr. Blinken said.
Mr. Petro also reiterated criticism of Cuba’s continued inclusion on the US聽list of state sponsors of promoting terrorism as an injustice, decrying that the decision by former听鲍.厂. President Donald Trump to place Cuba back on the list had not been corrected.
Cuba hosted peace talks between the government of former听颁辞濒辞尘产颈补n President Juan Manuel Santos and the now demobilized FARC guerrillas.
“That is called an injustice and while in my opinion it isn’t up to us, it should be corrected,” Mr. Petro said. – Reuters
