For the first time since the ceasefire, the WHO evacuated 41 patients from Gaza Petro called the US statements about the growth of cocaine production in Colombia a lie. The US claims about the record level of cocaine production in Colombia under the current government are untrue and serve as a justification for arbitrary sanctions, said Colombian President Gustavo Petro. Earlier, the US Treasury Department announced sanctions against the Colombian president, his wife Verónica Alcocer, son Nicolas, and Interior Minister Armando Benedetti, by decision of President Donald Trump "to protect the US and fight drug trafficking". U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent explained that since Petro came to power, cocaine production has reached record levels, flooding the United States and poisoning Americans. According to him, the Colombian leader has allowed the drug cartels to thrive and refused to crack down on their activities. Petro, on the other hand, has described these measures by the U.S. government as "arbitrariness typical of a regime of oppression." "The U.S. Treasury Department's statements are lies... Under my government, cocaine production has not increased, but rather: Petro wrote in his blog on the social network X. According to the head of state, the increase in the area under cocaine plantations occurred during the previous administration, when they reached 230,000 hectares under President Ivan Duca. "Under my government, after an annual growth rate of 42%, we managed to reduce this figure to 13% in 2022, 9% in 2023, and 3% in 2024," he said. Of the 260,000 hectares of coca that were grown in Colombia in 2024, Petro emphasized that about 80,000 hectares were abandoned more than three years ago, and another 22,000 were replaced by farmers with legal crops.