Liberal Alliance leader Alex Vanopslagh revealed in a Facebook post Sunday that he had taken cocaine while serving as party leader, following pressure from Danish media. “So yes, I have tried taking cocaine during my early time as party leader. It happened once or twice at most in a festive setting — and of course, never while I was at work,” wrote Vanopslagh, whose right-leaning party is currently third in the latest polls ahead of the March 24 election. The 34-year-old prime ministerial candidate, who is challenging Mette Frederiksen, came under fire for initially refusing to answer the question — one that is now being posed to all party leaders in Denmark before citizens go to the polls next week. Vanopslagh said he has changed his lifestyle since then, following a period of illness. “Since going through my stress-related illness, I have not touched anything beyond a glass of wine. It is not exactly something I want to share, because I know how the media will present it. I can already imagine the newspaper headlines,” wrote Vanopslagh, hoping that Danes will instead “judge me for who I am today.” “It speaks for itself,” said Frederiksen, when asked whether Vanopslagh can still be a candidate to take her role. Troels Lund Poulsen, leader of center-right Venstre and a prime ministerial candidate from Denmark’s right-leaning “blue bloc,” which the Liberal Alliance is part of, was asked whether he could work with Vanopslagh. “It is up to Liberal Alliance. It is not me who will decide that,” said Poulsen, who has received support from other blue bloc parties except for Vanopslagh’s, who chose to put himself in the running for the position. Venstre is currently part of the coalition government with Frederiksen’s Social Democrats. The Liberal Alliance leader also lobbied in 2023 to legalize the sale of cocaine in pharmacies, if an adult man “has their life under control and three times a year at some party might want to take some cocaine.”

VIENNA — Colombian President Gustavo Petro issued a stinging rebuke of U.S. foreign policy and urged President Donald Trump’s government to pursue dialogue with Latin America over military interventions. During an interview with POLITICO in Vienna this week, Petro said that Latin America is not a “land to be conquered,” after the Trump administration bombed alleged drug smugglers, toppled the Venezuelan president and menaced Cuba. These aggressive moves are part of a strategic shift from a White House looking to reassert U.S. dominance across the Western Hemisphere and push back foreign influence — an approach nicknamed the “Donroe Doctrine,” after the 1823 policy of U.S. President James Monroe. Petro, a leftist and former rebel, has emerged as one of the world’s most vocal critics of this U.S. foreign policy, periodically landing himself on Trump’s blacklist. The Colombian president avoided any direct barbs against Trump, instead citing their February meeting in the White House as an example of the intercontinental dialogue he wants to see. Prior to that meeting, Trump had called Petro a “sick man;” afterwards, he said Petro was “terrific.” During the conversation with POLITICO, which took place in the gilded front room of the Colombian ambassador’s Vienna residence, Petro reserved his bluntest criticism for U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and former Trump adviser and billionaire Elon Musk. Donald Trump meets with Gustavo Petro in the Oval Office in Washington on Feb. 3, 2026. | Colombian presidency press office/Anadolu via Getty Images Rubio championed “Western civilization” bound by “Christian faith” at the Munich Security Conference in February, identifying mass migration as a crisis destabilizing societies “all across the West.” Musk, meanwhile, has characterized “empathy” as Western civilization’s Achilles’ heel. Petro condemned what he saw as their promotion of a “white, Christian, Western civilization,” and warned against trying to revive “the age of the Crusades.” Such slogans belong to history, he said, and would generate an “enormous level of violence within each society.” He then went on to praise Europe’s diversity, which he described as an “asset” despite the potential for conflict: “I believe that understanding societies in their diversity does not mean nullifying European history or European history in America,” he said. Neither Rubio nor Musk responded to a request for comment in time for publication. SHIELD OF THE AMERICAS After decades of domestic battle against gangs trafficking illegal narcotics, Petro criticized Colombia’s exclusion from Trump’s recent anti-cartel coalition, the Shield of the Americas. “The 17 countries gathered are the least experienced in the fight against drugs in the Americas,” he said about the group’s Miami summit. “Some of them are deeply penetrated by the corruption of drug trafficking. All the countries of America are infiltrated because the effect of cash is very strong on any human being — but if anyone has experience in the fight against drugs, it is Colombia.” Colombia and its neighbors are rich in the coca plant, which places the region at the center of the global cocaine trade and decades of U.S. anti-drug policy. Trump’s war on drugs has involved striking alleged trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean, killing more than 150 people since September 2025, according to the New York Times. Last September, Petro told the United Nations that Trump should be investigated for war crimes over the strikes, which he said targeted young people trying to escape poverty. Colombia and its neighbors are rich in the coca plant, which places the region at the center of the global cocaine trade and decades of U.S. anti-drug policy. | Joaquin Sarmiento/AFP via Getty Images Speaking to POLITICO after addressing U.N. drug officials, Petro detailed Colombia’s expertise in fighting narco gangs, noting that it “has built a network of 75 countries whose police intelligence agencies coordinate with each other, and that is why we seized 3,300 tons of cocaine during my administration — the highest figure ever. We have handed over 800 drug traffickers to the U.S., collected 78,000 weapons.” But, he said, in reference to the Shield of the Americas summit, “we weren’t invited. And you don’t go where you’re not invited.” CLIMATE NOT BOMBS Petro is constitutionally barred from seeking another term in May, and with his time in office running out, he issued a plea for governments to pivot to climate action “instead of thinking about bombs.” “We have reached a world where capitalism is showing its end,” said Petro, who joined far-left guerrilla group M-19 as a teenager and now leads the left-wing Historic Pact party. “Its demise is not peaceful. It seems to be mired in bombs, violence and something that I have studied in depth: the climate crisis on which I have built my political project. The climate crisis scientifically heralds the end of existence — if we do not change the way we produce and consume throughout the world,” he warned. The Colombian leader is eager to discuss climate at almost any opportunity. He told U.N. diplomats on Monday that the rise of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl revealed something about a society facing the potential “extinction of humanity,” calling it the “drug of the climate crisis.” He also sees people’s reluctance to have children as part of a “culture of extinction” that pervades societies facing climate breakdown. “That decision is based on certain realities — namely, the well-founded belief that capital has reached its limit, and that its limit could be the end of the species of life,” Petro explained. He then added that Cuba, which is now facing the threat of U.S.-sponsored regime change, could be part of an intercontinental solution to the crisis — if only America and other countries were open to dialogue. “I believe that there are people in the U.S. government who think similarly: that instead of imposing an empire from which Cubans always liberate themselves, what is ultimately needed is to establish a dialogue between the Americas and include Cuba in the world of fiber optics and clean energy,” he said. He then pointed to Cuba’s Covid-19 vaccine and contributions to public health as examples of how it could help — were it open to the world. “If the United States engages in dialogue, and this means respect for the other, equity with the other, then we solve a very important part of the problem that afflicts humanity today,” Petro said. Arnau Busquets Guàrdia and Jakob Weizman contributed to this report.

The Netherlands has pulled out of U.S.-led counter-drug missions in the Caribbean, a reaction to the rising death toll from American military attacks on vessels suspected of being used to smuggle narcotics. Speaking Monday evening in Aruba, Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans said Dutch forces would continue drug interdiction within Dutch territorial waters, but would not take part in U.S. operations on the high seas linked to Operation Southern Spear. The operation, launched in September, has killed more than 100 people in over 20 attacks on boats that the U.S. says  were ferrying drugs. “We have worked together with the Americans on counter-narcotics for many years, but in a different way,” Brekelmans said. “When we see drug smuggling, we try to arrest and prosecute those responsible. Not by shooting ships.” The move was first reported by the Dutch daily Trouw. The decision marks a break with past practice. For years, the Netherlands, which controls six islands in the Caribbean, cooperated closely with the United States and other partners in the region, including through the Joint Interagency Task Force South. Dutch defense forces and the coast guard worked with U.S. counterparts on surveillance, interdiction, arrests and extraditions. What has changed, Brekelmans said, is the method adopted by the Donald Trump administration. “Outside our territorial waters, we see that the Americans have now chosen a national route again,” he said. “The method and the operation the United States is carrying out now, they are really doing that themselves. We are not participating in that.” The move comes amid heightened tensions after the United States used military force to detain Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro and escalate pressure on Caracas, prompting international criticism over violations of sovereignty and international law. Brekelmans said Dutch defense planners were closely watching developments between Washington and Caracas, but stressed there is currently no military threat from Venezuela toward the Dutch Caribbean islands. “We must always be prepared for different scenarios,” he said, noting that rising tensions can affect airspace and regional stability. “But you also have to look realistically at what the actual threats are.” Brekelmans made clear the Netherlands would not provide facilities, helicopters or other support if requested for Southern Spear. “If it is part of that operation, then that is not something we agree to,” he said. “For this operation, we are not making our facilities available.” CNN reported in November that London had suspended some intelligence sharing with the United States after Washington began launching lethal strikes on boats in the Caribbean.

President Donald Trump on Saturday morning (EST) celebrated the capture of Nicolas Maduro, hailing the operation as an “amazing job” by the U.S. military after the Venezuelan president unsuccessfully tried to negotiate. “I watched it literally like I was watching a television show,” the president said in an interview on Fox News hours after he posted on Truth Social that the U.S. had successfully carried out a large-scale strike against the Latin American nation. The dramatic turn of events caps a months-long pressure campaign by the Trump administration against Venezuela, which began in September with military strikes in the Caribbean Sea to kill alleged drug traffickers on boats. At that time, Trump said the U.S. was focused on stopping the flow of drugs and “not talking about” regime change, a point that drew skepticism from Democrats as well as conservative MAGA voices who oppose foreign intervention by the U.S. “We did a great job. We’re stopping drugs from coming into this country,” Trump said, a point his closest allies repeated Saturday in defense of the raid. In his interview with Fox, Trump said Maduro hoped to negotiate in the final days before U.S. forces captured him, and that the two men had spoken. “He wanted to negotiate at the end and I didn’t want to negotiate,” Trump said. He told Maduro that he had to “give up” and it was “close, but in the end … we had to do something that was much more surgical, much more powerful.” The overnight raid stunned other global leaders, who responded Saturday with a mix of condemnation — particularly from those in the region — and some praise from allies. Democrats on Capitol Hill quickly criticized the move, saying it was done without the authorization or consultation with Congress. But some Republican hawks, particularly those in Florida, praised Trump for his leadership Even Steve Bannon, a close Trump ally who has broadly opposed proposals for deeper U.S. military engagement in global crises, praised the move, calling the raids “bold and brilliant.” The attack was initially planned to take place four days ago, Trump said, but the weather “was not perfect. The weather has to be perfect,” adding that there were no U.S. military fatalities or loss of aircraft during the strikes. Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are expected to be indicted in New York, where prosecutors originally indicted him years earlier. Bondi said Maduro is being charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machineguns and destructive devices against the United States. Trump told Fox that Maduro and Flores were flown out of Venezuela, onto the USS Iwo Jima, a U.S. Navy warship, and will be heading to New York. U.S. officials are deciding now how to be involved in the selection of a new leader. “We can’t take a chance of letting somebody else run it and just take over what he left,” Trump said, “We’ll be involved in it very much.” Trump wouldn’t say if the U.S. would support Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who received the Nobel Peace Prize last year and dedicated it to Trump. The president is expected to deliver a press conference Saturday morning (EST) from Mar-a-Lago. Ali Bianco contributed to this report.

NEW YORK — Attorney General Pam Bondi said Saturday that Venezuela’s leader Nicolás Maduro has been charged with drug trafficking and “will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.” Bondi wrote in a social media post that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, had been charged by the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office with narco-terrorism conspiracy, conspiracy to import cocaine and possession of machineguns and destructive devices, among other charges. The announcement came after President Donald Trump said the U.S. carried out “a large-scale strike” in Venezuela and had captured and flown the pair out of the country. An indictment didn’t appear to be unsealed by mid-morning Saturday. A spokesperson for the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. U.S. officials appeared to be using the charges as legal justification for the strike in Venezuela, which occurred without congressional authorization. Vice President JD Vance wrote on social media that the U.S. had offered Venezuela “multiple off ramps.” “And PSA for everyone saying this was ‘illegal’: Maduro has multiple indictments in the United States for narcoterrorism. You don’t get to avoid justice for drug trafficking in the United States because you live in a palace in Caracas.” Early Saturday morning, Secretary of State Marco Rubio reposted his own social media message from last year referencing charges against Maduro, writing that he is “NOT the president of Venezuela and and his regime is NOT the legitimate government.” New York federal prosecutors, along with prosecutors in D.C. and Florida, in 2020 charged Maduro and 14 other current and former Venezuelan officials — although not Maduro’s wife — with narco-terrorism, corruption and drug trafficking. One of the prosecutors who led that case, Amanda Houle, is now the criminal chief at the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office. The investigation was supervised by Emil Bove, Trump’s former criminal defense lawyer and a former prominent Justice Department official who is now a federal judge. The fresh charges against Maduro come weeks after Trump issued an unexpected and controversial pardon to another former foreign leader whom Bove pursued as a prosecutor: Juan Orlando Hernández, the ex-president of Honduras. Hernández had been convicted in 2024 for conspiring to import cocaine into the U.S.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday classifying fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction, giving the U.S. government additional legal firepower in its efforts to combat illegal trafficking of the synthetic drug. The executive order cites the lethality of the drug, which kills tens of thousands of Americans every year, and the fact that transnational criminal groups the Trump administration has designated as foreign terrorist organizations use the sale of fentanyl to fund activities that undermine U.S. national security. Speaking in the Oval Office as he signed the order, the president said the amount of drugs coming into the U.S. by sea has decreased by 94 percent (most drugs, including fentanyl, enter the U.S. via land ports of entry). Trump added that drug flows are “a direct military threat to the United States of America.” The administration has focused considerable resources on combating fentanyl as part of its efforts to secure the U.S. border with Mexico. Top administration officials have argued that Trump’s strict immigration limits and border security measures have led to a drop in domestic consumption of fentanyl. “With a secure border, lives are being saved every day, sex trafficking has plummeted, fentanyl has plummeted,” White House border czar Tom Homan said Monday. While classifying a narcotic as a WMD is a nearly unprecedented presidential action, there has been public debate about characterizing fentanyl that way before. The Biden administration had previously faced pressure from a bipartisan contingent of attorneys general to classify fentanyl as a WMD. And fentanyl, even in tiny quantities, is potent enough to kill large numbers of people very quickly through overdoses. The synthetic drug, which has some limited legal pharmacological uses, mostly comes to the United States via Mexico, where drug cartels manufacture fentanyl using “precursor chemicals” imported from China. Fentanyl production is also booming in the Golden Triangle region of southeast Asia, which includes the countries of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. Fentanyl can be easily made in makeshift labs, adding to the challenge authorities have faced in eradicating production within their borders. The administration, meanwhile, has accused cartels operating in Venezuela of trafficking fentanyl into the United States as a justification for the use of lethal force against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea. Venezuela, while seen as a hub for cocaine trafficking, is not viewed as a major contributor to global fentanyl trafficking. The timing of the designation is striking, as speculation mounts that the U.S. will carry out land strikes against alleged drug trafficking targets on Venezuelan soil as part of its pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Declaring fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction would give the U.S. additional legal justification to use military force against Venezuela. Claims that Iraq still possessed WMDs were used as a legal justification for the invasion of the Middle Eastern country and the overthrow of its then-leader Saddam Hussein under the George W. Bush administration. The U.S. has also previously floated military strikes against Colombian and Mexican drug cartels, and it has been expected that the U.S. will eventually turn its focus away from Venezuela toward threats from groups in those countries.

President Donald Trump ratcheted up his threats against Colombia on Wednesday, telling reporters Colombian President Gustavo Petro is “next” in the White House’s regional campaign against drug trafficking. While initially, Trump told reporters “I haven’t really thought too much about” Petro, his comments quickly swerved into serious saber-rattling against the Colombian leader. “Colombia is producing a lot of drugs,” Trump said. “So he better wise up or he’ll be next. He’ll be next soon. I hope he’s listening, he’s going to be next.” Trump’s comments mark a sharp escalation of Trump’s threats against the Colombian leader. In a conversation with POLITICO earlier this week, the U.S. president floated expanding his anti-drug trafficking military operation — which have so far been focused on Venezuela — to Mexico and Colombia. Trump has overseen a slate of strikes against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean since September and launched a massive buildup of military power off the coast of Venezuela in an attempt to pressure the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, to leave office. Tensions between Trump and Petro escalated this fall amid the U.S.’s aggressive campaign against drug trafficking in the region. The Trump administration decertified Colombia as a drug control partner and revoked Petro’s visa in September, slashing aid to the country and bashing its leader as an “illegal drug dealer” the following month. Though Trump has made clear he wants Petro out of office, he could get his wish without having to follow through on his threats. The Colombian leader is term-limited — and the country is set to head to the polls for its presidential election in May. The Colombian embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

BRUSSELS — The EU will start using high-resolution satellites and the latest drone technology to crack down on drugs smuggled through its borders, as cocaine and synthetic drugs swarm European capitals and the bloc grapples with growing drug trafficking violence. “When it comes to illegal drugs, Europe is reaching a crisis point,” said European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner on Thursday, while presenting the new EU Drugs Strategy and action plan against drug trafficking. They lay out actions to boost international cooperation, stop the import of illicit drugs, dismantle production sites, curb recruitment of young people to criminal networks and tackle the growing drug-related violence that has taken capitals hostage. As gang networks evolve and drug traffickers constantly find new “loopholes” to bring their drugs into Europe, the EU and countries will work with customs, agencies and the private sector to better monitor and disrupt trafficking routes across land, sea or air. This includes using the latest technologies and artificial intelligence to find drugs sent via mail, monitoring aviation and publishing its upcoming EU Ports Strategy for port security. EU border security agency Frontex will get “state of the art resources,” said Brunner, including high-resolution satellites and drones. “Drug traffickers use the latest technologies, which means we need innovation to beat them,” Brunner said. To stay up to date, the European Commission is establishing a Security and Innovation Campus to boost research and test cutting-edge technologies in 2026. “We send the drug lords and their organizations a clear message: Europe is fighting back,” Brunner said. On top of the increased import of illegal drugs, Europe is grappling with the growing in-house production of synthetic drugs, with authorities dismantling up to 500 labs every year. To tackle this, the European Union Drugs Agency will develop a European database on drug production incidents and an EU-wide substance database to help countries identify synthetic drugs and precursor chemicals. The EU is also looking at its existing laws, evaluating the current rules against organized crime and the existing Framework Decision on drug trafficking by 2026. The EUDA’s new European drug alert system, launched a couple of weeks ago, will also help issue alerts on serious drug-related risks, such as highly potent synthetic drugs; while its EU early warning system will help identify new substances and quickly inform the capitals. Europe is grappling with a surge in the availability of cocaine, synthetic stimulants and potent opioids, alongside increasingly complex trafficking networks and rising drug-related violence, particularly in Belgium and the Netherlands. The quantity of drugs seized in the EU has increased dramatically between 2013 and 2023, the commissioner said, with authorities seizing 419 metric tons of cocaine in 2023 — six times more than the previous decade. But it’s not just the drugs — illicit drug trafficking comes with “bloodshed, violence, corruption, and social harm,” Brunner said. Criminal networks are increasingly recruiting young and vulnerable people, often using social media platforms. To fight this, the EU will launch an EU-wide platform to “stop young people being drawn into drug trafficking,” connecting experts across Europe. “I think that is key — to get engaged with the young people at an early stage, to prevent them getting into the use of drugs,” Brunner said. The new strategy — and accompanying action plan — will define how Europe should tackle this escalating crisis from 2026 to 2030. “Already too many have been lost to death, addiction and violence caused by traffickers. Now is the time for us to turn the tides,” he added.

Police have detained eight people and raided 18 homes in Brussels and Leuven in connection with death threats against a top prosecutor known for fighting organized crime and drug trafficking. Law enforcement in Brussels received information in July about a possible plot to attack Julien Moinil, the city’s public prosecutor, as reported by Belgian news outlets. The threat level against Moinil, who took office in January and is under police protection, was raised to four, the highest category, after police learned of the alleged plans. “The main suspects have criminal records for organized drug trafficking. They are active within the Albanian criminal underworld,” said the Belgian state prosecutor’s department on Tuesday. It remains unclear whether the suspects actually planned an attack on Moinil. Brussels has struggled with drug-related crime and violence for the last several years, with dozens of shootings. By the end of October, 78 shootings had been recorded in 2025. Amid a particularly violent week in August, Moinil lambasted politicians for their lenient stance on gun violence, warning that “anyone in Brussels can be hit a by a stray bullet.” In 2024, 92 shootings claimed the lives of nine people, according to official figures. In September, Belgian Security and Home Affairs Minister Bernard Quintin sparked debate when he suggested soldiers could be deployed on the streets of Brussels for their “shock effect” alongside police. In a recent anonymous open letter, a judge in Antwerp said drug trafficking is turning Belgium into a “narco-state” and that “extensive mafia-like structures have taken root.” The alleged plot against Moinil raises questions about the safety of other officials involved in combating drug violence. “This investigation once again shows the absolute necessity to better protect police officers and magistrates who fight tirelessly every day against organized crime and who, as a result, are targeted by these organizations,” Federal Prosecutor Ann Fransen told Belgian media on Tuesday.

BRUSSELS — The European Commission is set to publish a package of measures in December to further clamp down on the flow and production of street drugs in the EU, as drug-related violence in countries like Belgium or the Netherlands surges. New rules on the precursor chemicals used to manufacture drugs, an EU Drugs Strategy, and a European action plan against drug trafficking are scheduled to land Dec. 3, according to the latest Commission agenda released Monday. “Both the new strategy on drugs and the new legislation on precursors are in preparation,” the EU Drugs Agency told POLITICO in a statement. The Commission’s home affairs department is leading the new drug strategy and trafficking plan, while its tax department is delivering the proposal on drug precursors, EUDA said. The current drugs strategy has guided the EU’s priorities in the area since 2021 but it will expire this year. The new strategy — and accompanying action plan — will define how Europe should tackle this escalating crisis from 2026 to 2030. Europe is grappling with a surge in availability of cocaine, synthetic stimulants and potent opioids, alongside increasingly complex trafficking networks and rising drug-related violence, particularly in Belgium and the Netherlands. The ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp serve as a gateway for illegal narcotics to enter Europe. Criminals within Europe are is increasingly manufacturing their own synthetic drugs using precursor chemicals, while seizures of trafficked drugs have also been soaring. The EU Drugs Agency reported that in 2023, EU member countries recorded a record-high amount of cocaine seized for the seventh year in a row. While seizures of precursor chemicals have more than tripled in the several years preceding 2023. In the wake of Europe’s cocaine market more than quadrupling between 2011 and 2021, the Commission in 2023 proposed a plan to combat drug trafficking, which includes strengthening cooperation with Latin American countries, establishing a network of specialized prosecutors and judges, and investing additional funds in upgrading customs equipment. Across the Atlantic, the U.S. has been struggling with fentanyl, a synthetic drug estimated to be 50 times stronger than heroin. The U.S. has imposed tariffs, especially on Chinese goods tied to fentanyl precursor chemicals, as a trade pressure tool to curb their flow into the country. Former U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned in 2023 that Europe will soon have to deal with the same problem. The European Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.