Colombia’s Spy Chief Says CIA Ties Remain Intact Despite Petro’s Public Freeze

In a rare interview, the head of Colombia’s National Intelligence Directorate (DNI) has insisted that his agency’s partnership with the CIA and other US services is still operating normally, undercutting earlier claims from President Gustavo Petro that intelligence exchanges with Washington had been halted. Jorge Lemus told Agence France‑Presse that information flows with American counterparts remain “completely fluid” and that both sides continue to work together closely.

Petro had stunned observers on November 11 by ordering all Colombian security and intelligence bodies to suspend contacts and information‑sharing with US agencies, in protest at American missile strikes on boats in the Caribbean that Washington says are tied to drug smuggling. The move followed US sanctions on Petro, his family and senior officials over alleged involvement in the drug trade, a charge the Colombian leader strongly rejects.

Within days, however, Interior Minister Armando Benedetti moved to soften the message, saying the president’s directive had been misinterpreted and stressing that Colombia would keep cooperating with US services such as the FBI and DEA against narcotrafficking and organized crime. Lemus’s new remarks are the first top‑level confirmation that this cooperation, including with the CIA, has in practice continued “exactly as before” despite the political confrontation between the two governments.

According to Lemus, Colombian forces have blown up more than 10,000 clandestine cocaine laboratories this year, often in joint efforts supported by US intelligence. His comments highlight the gap between the fiery public rhetoric surrounding Petro’s break with Washington and the on‑the‑ground reality of a long‑standing security partnership that both sides still see as vital to their counternarcotics campaigns.