Colombian President Gustavo Petro lashed out at the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and said it no longer serves to combat drug trafficking, the purpose for which it was created 30 years ago.
In a public message, he stated that this mechanism has been distorted and now operates as a tool to pressure and punish political adversaries on the international stage.
It is worth recalling that he himself is on that list—although there is no evidence of alleged illegal activities—and just this week, Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, managed to be removed from it, two months after negotiating the system of government and foreign intervention in Venezuelan oil.
In the same address, the president made a direct call to Brazil to extend its instant payment system PIX to Colombia. The proposal draws attention because the country already has its own model, Bre-B, recently implemented, which opens a debate about the direction of financial policy and regional integration.
Related: Petro Claims Nearly 70% of Colombia’s Energy Is Clean.
Petro slams OFAC, urges expansion of Brazil’s PIX system to Colombia
The president’s remarks were especially harsh toward OFAC, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Treasury responsible for imposing economic sanctions on individuals and entities linked to illicit activities. Petro argued that this system has lost effectiveness against drug trafficking networks, which manage to adapt and operate despite the restrictions.
According to his view, the tool has ceased to fulfill its original purpose, while he questioned the fact that major kingpins remain active while other actors end up affected by administrative decisions with global impact.
The president went further and asserted that the list has become a mechanism of political pressure. In his view, its use responds more to geopolitical interests than to an effective fight against illegal economies, which, he said, ultimately affects the sovereignty of countries.
These criticisms come in a context of recurring tensions between his government and political sectors in the United States, as well as within a broader discourse in which Petro has questioned the international model of the fight against drugs.
“The OFAC list is no longer a weapon against drug trafficking; drug trafficking mocks it, and they settle in Dubai, where they buy residency for about $4,000 and live in the lap of luxury. OFAC only serves to persecute political opposition and domesticate it around the world. It is an aberrant system of political control,” he wrote in a lengthy post on his account on the social media platform X.
The push for PIX and the message to Brazil
In parallel, Petro put forward a concrete proposal: that Brazil extend its PIX payment system to Colombia. This comes after the United States threatened the government of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva with sanctions if it does not shut down this instant payment system created by the Central Bank of Brazil (BCB) in 2020.
The call seeks to open the door to more direct financial integration in the region and, at the same time, reduce dependence on international systems that may be affected by sanctions.
PIX, developed by the BCB, allows immediate transfers 24 hours a day, with low costs and without the need for traditional intermediaries. Its massive adoption has made it one of the most successful payment systems in the world in terms of financial inclusion.
The Colombian president suggested that moving in this direction would make it possible to build alternatives to mechanisms such as OFAC. In his view, the aim is to create financial channels that are less vulnerable to external decisions and more aligned with the interests of Latin American countries.
The proposal also has a clear political component: strengthening ties with Brazil and moving toward greater regional autonomy in economic and technological matters.
La lista OFAC ya no es un arma contra el narcotráfico, el narcotráfico se burla de ella, y se hospedan en Dubai, allí compran residencia pot unos 4.000 dólares y viven en medio del lujo.
La OFAC solo sirve para perseguir oposiciones políticas y domesticarlas en el mundo. Es un… https://t.co/gzpzWU5pIE
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) April 4, 2026
The contrast with Bre-B, the Colombian system
The initiative, however, raises questions within the country itself. Since 2024, Colombia has had Bre-B, an instant payment system that enables real-time transfers between financial institutions and digital platforms.
This model was promoted to modernize the financial system, facilitate transactions, and reduce the use of cash. Inspired by international experiences such as PIX, Bre-B seeks to consolidate its own infrastructure adapted to the Colombian context.
For that reason, the call to adopt or integrate the Brazilian system is generating debate. Some sectors consider that it could be interpreted as a lack of confidence in local development, while others see it as an opportunity to accelerate regional interoperability.
Beyond the technical aspects, the discussion reflects a tension between strengthening national capacities or betting on shared frameworks in Latin America.
As is often the case, Petro’s statements are not limited to a single area, in this case the economic one. His criticism of OFAC and his proposal regarding PIX are part of a broader debate on the control of financial flows and the role of major powers in global regulation.
In Latin America, several countries have begun to explore mechanisms that reduce their exposure to international sanctions and allow them greater room for maneuver. In that context, the idea of regional payment systems is gaining momentum.
The Colombian president’s proposal points in that direction, although it is not without controversy. While some see it as a step toward autonomy, others warn about the technical, regulatory, and political challenges that its implementation would entail.
In any case, the debate is already underway and puts a fundamental question on the table: to what extent countries in the region can build their own alternatives in a global financial system dominated by external rules.