BOGOTA: Colombia has resumed spraying drug fields with a toxic chemical using drones, the US embassy in Bogota said Friday, after a meeting between the two nations’ leaders eased tensions.
The South American nation in 2015 suspended the aerial spraying of glyphosate, which has been linked to cancer in humans, over concerns about its negative health impact.
US President Donald Trump and leftist counterpart Gustavo Petro met last week at the White House to smooth diplomatic tensions that had been building over the last year.
They pledged to resume historic military cooperation between Washington and Bogota, and to jointly combat guerrilla groups and drug cartels.
Petro’s government announced in December that it would resume the spraying of drug crops under growing pressure from the Trump administration, which is demanding a tougher anti-drug policy in the world’s top cocaine producer.
“Colombia has launched drone eradication of coca crops” with support from the US government, Washington’s mission in Bogota wrote on social media Friday.
“This technology could be game-changing: lower coca cultivation, more security in Colombia, less deadly drugs reaching American streets, and more lives saved.”
The Colombian justice ministry presented the new drug crop eradication policy in December.
It said drones would fly 1.5 meters (5 feet) above coca fields and carry out “controlled” spraying to prevent the chemical from affecting communities.
Since taking office in 2022, Petro has followed a “total peace” policy to disband all armed groups through dialogue.
But six months before he leaves office, the efforts have yielded few results, forcing the president to shift toward a tougher war on drugs.
Colombia resumes spraying drug crops with drones
https://arab.news/2pfez
Colombia resumes spraying drug crops with drones
- The South American nation in 2015 suspended the aerial spraying of glyphosate
- The toxic chemical has been linked to cancer in humans
‘I admire Vision 2030’: Bangladesh’s new PM aims for stronger Saudi, GCC ties
- Saudi Arabia congratulates Tarique Rahman on assuming Bangladesh’s top office
- Relations between Bangladesh and Kingdom were formalized during his father’s rule
DHAKA: After 17 years in exile, Tarique Rahman has taken office as prime minister of Bangladesh, inheriting his parents’ political legacy and facing immediate economic and political challenges.
Rahman led his Bangladesh Nationalist Party to a landslide victory in the Feb. 12 general election, winning an absolute majority with 209 of 300 parliamentary seats and marking the party’s return to power after two decades.
The BNP was founded by his father, former President Ziaur Rahman, a 1971 Liberation War hero. After his assassination in 1981, Rahman’s mother, Khaleda Zia, took over the party’s helm and served two full terms as prime minister — in 1991 and 2001.
Rahman and his cabinet, whose members were sworn in alongside him on Tuesday, take over from an interim administration which governed Bangladesh for 18 months after former premier Sheikh Hasina — the BNP’s archrival who ruled consecutively for 15 years — was toppled in the 2024 student-led uprising.
As he begins his term, the new prime minister’s first tasks will be to rebuild the economy — weakened by uncertainty during the interim administration — and to restore political stability. Relations with the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia and other GCC states, are also high on his agenda.
“Saudi Arabia is one of our long-standing friends,” Rahman told Arab News at his office in Dhaka, two days before his historic election win.
“I admire the Saudi Vision 2030, and I am sincerely looking forward to working with the leadership of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. BNP always had a great relationship with the Muslim world, especially GCC nations — UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman — and I look forward to working closely with GCC countries and their leadership to build a long-term trusting partnership with mutual interest,” Rahman said.
The Saudi government congratulated him on assuming the top office on Tuesday, wishing prosperity to the Bangladeshi people.
Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia established formal diplomatic relations in August 1975, and the first Bangladeshi ambassador presented his credentials in late 1976, after Rahman’s father rose to power. That year, Bangladesh also started sending laborers, engineers, doctors, and teachers to work in the Kingdom.
Today, more than 3 million Bangladeshis live and work in Saudi Arabia — the largest expat group in the Kingdom and the biggest Bangladeshi community outside the country.
“I recall that when my father, President Ziaur Rahman, was in office, bilateral relations between our two nations were initiated,” Rahman said. “During the tenure of my mother, the late Begum Khaleda Zia, as prime minister, those relations became even stronger.”
Over the decades, Saudi Arabia has not only emerged as the main destination for Bangladesh’s migrant workers but also one of its largest development and emergency aid donors.
Weeks after Rahman’s mother began her first term as prime minister in 1991, Bangladesh was struck by one of the deadliest tropical cyclones in its history. Riyadh was among the first who offered assistance, and Zia visited Saudi Arabia on her earliest foreign tour and performed Hajj in June 1991.
For Rahman, who had been living in London since 2008 and returned to Bangladesh in December — just days before his mother’s death — the Kingdom will also be one of the first countries he plans to visit.
“I would definitely like to visit Saudi Arabia early in my term,” he said. “Personally, I also wish to visit the holy mosque, Al-Masjid Al-Haram, Makkah, to perform Umrah.”
