Bogotá (AFP) – The Colombian government announced this Tuesday the resumption of negotiations with the Gulf Clan, suspended two weeks ago after President Gustavo Petro's agreements with the United States to collaborate in the capture of drug trafficking bosses. The parties say they consider the crisis over and assure that the process will advance.

First modification: 02/17/2026 - 14:43 Last modification: 02/17/2026 - 15:05

The Colombian government announced this Tuesday that it will resume peace negotiations with the Gulf Clan, suspended by the criminal organization two weeks ago in protest of President Gustavo Petro's agreements with Donald Trump.

During a visit to the White House on February 3, the president agreed to carry out joint work to locate alias 'Chiquito Malo', the top commander of that drug trafficking group.

The agreement led the Gulf Clan to interrupt the dialogues with the government that had been taking place since September in Qatar.

The government's peace office reported that negotiators met in Bogotá on February 9 and considered the suspension of negotiations "overcome."

The peace process "continues to move forward," the office said in a statement.

Petro gave Trump a list of the main drug traffickers in Colombia with the purpose of receiving support from the United States intelligence services to arrest them.

Among them were 'Chiquito Malo' and 'Iván Mordisco', the leader of the largest dissident group in the FARC, the armed group that signed peace with the government in 2016, and 'Pablito', one of the strong men of the ELN guerrilla on the border with Venezuela.

The leaders of the Gulf Clan considered that these agreements represented an "attack" against their "good faith" and left the Doha negotiating table.

"President Petro put his personal interests before the greater good, which is peace in the territories," the poster stated at the time.

The government and the Gulf Clan negotiate with a view to disarmament in exchange for legal benefits. So far they have reached some agreements such as de-escalating the conflict in populations plagued by violence in the northwest of the country.

After months of confrontations on social networks, Petro and Trump strengthened efforts to combat drug trafficking in Colombia, the largest cocaine-producing country in the world.

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