[1/5] President of Colombia Gustavo Petro speaks during the closing of the Latin American and Caribbean Conference on Drugs "For life, peace and development", during the visit of the Mexican president, in Cali, Colombia September 9, 2023. Petro, the first leftist president in Colombia's history, closed the Latin American and Caribbean Conference on Drugs, which was held in the city of Cali, by saying that 50 years of a failed war on drugs had resulted in immeasurable bloodshed and pain in Latin America. Colombia, like other Latin American countries, faces persistent violence resulting from drug trafficking and the presence of cartels with growing firepower and economic might, according to security sources and analysts. They also agreed on the need to break the harmful links between drug and firearms trafficking, transnational organized crime, illegal logging, human trafficking, migrant smuggling, money laundering and corruption. The Mexican president said Latin American countries need to support the United States in its fight against fentanyl out of a "moral obligation" and "humanism."

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Persons: Colombia Gustavo Petro, Gustavo Petro, Petro, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Lopez Obrador, Luis Jaime Acosta, Raul Cortes, Jackie Botts, Chizu Organizations: Caribbean Conference, REUTERS Acquire, Rights, Drugs, Thomson Locations: Colombia, Cali, Colombian, Rights BOGOTA, America, Mexican, United States, Bogota, Mexico City