The Trump administration’s January 2025 freeze on foreign assistance halted almost all USAID work in Colombia, ending roughly $440 million in annual programming that had covered counternarcotics, peace-accord implementation, humanitarian relief, and rural development. The USAID Colombia aid freeze shut down anti-gang mentoring in Quibdó, food assistance in La Guajira and Norte de Santander, migrant services run through the International Organization for Migration, and coca-substitution work in Cauca, among dozens of other programs. By 2026, security analysts, humanitarian agencies, and Colombian officials had documented rising violence, mass displacement, and expanding armed-group control in areas the programs had served.
What Colombia Was Receiving Before the Freeze
Colombia was the largest recipient of USAID funding in the Western Hemisphere. As of September 2024, there were 62 active USAID awards in the country with a combined estimated value of $1.3 billion, and USAID-funded programs received $260 million in fiscal year 2024 appropriations.1USAID Office of Inspector General. USAID Complied With U.S. Laws Limiting Assistance but Could Strengthen Internal Management Activities The Biden administration’s FY 2024 request had asked for $444 million to cover counternarcotics, peace accord implementation, Venezuelan migrant integration, and forest conservation.2Congressional Research Service. U.S. Foreign Assistance to Latin America and the Caribbean
The scale mattered most for the 2016 peace accord with the FARC. Between 2018 and 2024, the United States provided approximately $1.26 billion toward implementing that accord, about 42% of all foreign aid dedicated to it during those years.3Reuters. USAID Suspension Shutters Colombia Programs, Endangering FARC Peace Deal The work spanned land titling, reintegration of former combatants, humanitarian demining, protection for social leaders, and alternatives to coca cultivation. Three operating units ran it: the USAID/Colombia mission in Bogotá, the Office of Transition Initiatives, and the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance.1USAID Office of Inspector General. USAID Complied With U.S. Laws Limiting Assistance but Could Strengthen Internal Management Activities
How the Freeze Was Executed on the Ground
On January 24, 2025, employees of a USAID-funded program in the Chocó department received an email ordering the suspension of all activities. Within days, 90% of that program’s staff were laid off.4Latin America Reports. USAID Withdrawal Hits Colombia’s Most Vulnerable President Trump described the aid as “appalling waste” and singled out a $60 million package intended for “Indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombian empowerment.”5The World. Cut to USAID Funding Affects Rural Regions of Colombia
An ACAPS assessment catalogued the affected sectors: peacebuilding, food security, shelter, protection services, health care, and services for migrants and refugees. The International Organization for Migration terminated staff contracts for its “Visibles” program, which had helped migrants and refugees with regularization. World Vision, the Danish Refugee Council, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Action Against Hunger, and Save the Children all suspended or reduced operations. The Asociación Nacional de Afrocolombianos Desplazados closed outright. In Antioquia department alone, at least 82 NGOs were affected.6ACAPS. Anticipated Implications of the US Stop-Work Orders in Colombia
Youth Resilience and the Quibdó Case
The clearest illustration of what the freeze cost came from Quibdó, the capital of Chocó and a strategic corridor for drug trafficking. Jóvenes Resilientes, the Youth Resilience program, had held USAID contracts annually since 2021, receiving up to $14.3 million per year. It operated 30 offices nationwide and reached roughly 60,000 young people through mentorship, entrepreneurship support, sports, music, and dance. In Quibdó, it served more than 3,100 youths and had rehabilitated about 200 gang members involved in extortion and small-scale trafficking.3Reuters. USAID Suspension Shutters Colombia Programs, Endangering FARC Peace Deal
The program closed all its offices and terminated all staff in February 2025, weeks before it was set to receive over $3 million in new funding.7Devex. USAID Moves Out, Gangs Move In: The Cost of Aid Cuts in Colombia A ceasefire between three Quibdó gangs had cut the city’s homicide rate by more than half since December 2024, and local officials described social programs like Youth Resilience as “as important as ongoing negotiations” for holding that truce past its March 31, 2025 expiration.3Reuters. USAID Suspension Shutters Colombia Programs, Endangering FARC Peace Deal
By early 2026, reporting confirmed that the Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia had moved into areas the program had served. In the first nine months of 2024, 145 young people were killed in Quibdó. A small local initiative called Black Boys Chocó, founded by Harold Palacios, tried to continue the work with far less money, and reported relapses among former participants.8Devex. USAID Exit Leaves Colombia’s Youth Exposed
Security and Humanitarian Consequences
Chocó had received between 50% and 70% of its humanitarian funding from USAID, and local officials described the agency as present in “almost every program and project” in the department.4Latin America Reports. USAID Withdrawal Hits Colombia’s Most Vulnerable A 2026 assessment by Sweden’s Sida found that the United States had provided over 68% of Colombia’s humanitarian funding in 2024. After the freeze, Colombia’s humanitarian cluster architecture was cut from 10 clusters to six, and the UN reported roughly a 60% reduction in overall information-management capacity.9Sida. Colombia Humanitarian Country Analysis
Human Rights Watch called 2025 “one of the worst humanitarian tolls in a decade.” More than 79,500 people were displaced between January and August, and explosive-related casualties rose 145% compared with 2024. The Ombudsperson’s Office documented 625 cases of child recruitment by armed groups in 2024, with United Nations data indicating the trend worsened in 2025. Between August and November 2025, at least 15 children recruited by FARC dissident groups were killed during government airstrikes targeting those groups.10Human Rights Watch. World Report 2026 – Colombia
Coca cultivation kept climbing. A June 2026 UNODC report recorded 261,000 hectares of coca at the end of 2024, a 3.5% increase over the previous year. The number of “production enclaves,” areas with sustained crop concentration and integrated processing, rose from seven in 2019 to 15 in 2024, accounting for 44% of all cultivation.11El País. Colombian Government Reconciles With the UN, Publishes 2024 Report on Illicit Crops
The Diplomatic Rupture Around the Freeze
The aid cutoff overlapped with a broader confrontation between the Trump administration and Colombian President Gustavo Petro. In September 2025, the United States decertified Colombia on counternarcotics for the first time since 1997, citing “all-time record” levels of coca cultivation and cocaine production and blaming Colombia’s “political leadership.” The administration issued a national interest waiver allowing some assistance to continue.12U.S. Department of State. Presidential Determination on Major Drug Transit or Major Illicit Drug Producing Countries
The following month, the U.S. Treasury Department placed Petro, his wife, his son, and a close adviser on the OFAC Specially Designated Nationals list, freezing their U.S. assets. Petro’s visa was revoked after he joined a pro-Palestinian demonstration and urged U.S. soldiers to disobey orders. Friction points included Petro’s attempts to block U.S. deportation flights, his calls for cocaine legalization, his restoration of diplomatic relations with Venezuela, and Colombia’s decision to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Trump called Petro an “illegal drug leader” and “bad guy,” language the Colombian government formally termed “offensive.”13Inter-American Law Review. U.S.-Colombia Relations Fracture as Trump Sanctions Petro, Threatens Funding Cuts
Petro was publicly dismissive. “What happens if they take away aid? In my opinion, nothing,” he said in October 2025, characterizing aid money as funds that largely flow through American agencies and employ Americans. He acknowledged that the loss of military cooperation, particularly U.S. helicopters, would have the “gravest impact.” Colombia recalled its ambassador from Washington. As of late October 2025, the Colombian ambassador stated there had been “no actual change in payments” and that military and intelligence cooperation continued.14Al Jazeera. Colombia’s Gustavo Petro Dismisses Threatened US Aid Cuts
Can Other Donors Fill the Gap?
So far, no. The United States had contributed more to Colombia than all other donors combined, and it worked outside the main donor coordination mechanisms, declining to participate in the Multi-Partner Trust Fund because it “does not want to be influenced by what other donors want.”15Taylor & Francis Online. Donor Coordination in Post-Accord Colombia The European Union had run a “European Fund for Peace” for Colombia, but the EU Parliament voted to discontinue it in 2021 over coordination and control concerns. Discussions about reinstating it were ongoing as of 2025.
Europe’s own budgets were tightening. In 2025, seventeen EU member states cut development assistance; Germany halved its humanitarian aid, and France reduced development spending by 39%. An International Crisis Group analysis found that in 2024 the U.S., EU, and Germany together accounted for almost 70% of peace spending among OECD Development Assistance Committee members, and all three were now cutting.16International Crisis Group. Budget, Global Turmoil, Peace, Conflict and the EU’s Funding Plans
What has changed is who handles the money. The Colombia Humanitarian Fund began channeling resources exclusively to local actors. The European Commission’s ECHO focused on funding intersectoral rapid-response mechanisms led by Colombian organizations. Sweden’s Sida allocated SEK 70 million (roughly $6.5 million) to Colombia for 2026, directing part of it toward community and refugee-led organizations in areas where international presence had declined.9Sida. Colombia Humanitarian Country Analysis Those figures are a small fraction of what was lost.