US designates Colombia’s biggest drug cartel Gulf Clan as terrorist organization

Marco Rubio calls drug-trafficking militia, present in at least 20 of Colombia’s departments, ‘violent and powerful’

The US has designated the Gulf Clan, Colombia’s largest and most powerful illegal armed criminal group, as a foreign terrorist organisation.

The notorious drug-trafficking militia with its roots in far-right paramilitary forces, is present in at least 20 of Colombia’s departments, and dominates people- and drug-smuggling routes through the Darién Gap. It has also battled unsuccessfully against leftwing rebels for control of criminal networks along the Venezuelan border.