Washington DC - The US slapped unprecedented sanctions on Colombian President Gustavo Petro, his wife, son and a top aide Friday, accusing them of enabling drug cartels.

President Donald Trump's Treasury blacklisted Petro, first lady Veronica Alcocer, his eldest son Nicolas, and Interior Minister Armando Benedetti, banning them from travel to the US and freezing any US assets they hold.

Washington's sanctions list is usually reserved for drug kingpins, terror operatives and dictators involved in widespread human rights abuses.

The rupture caps months of personal friction between Trump and Petro over deportations and a killing spree off the coast of South America, where the US has been wantonly bombing boats it alleges are carrying drugs.

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"President Petro has allowed drug cartels to flourish and refused to stop this activity," claimed US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Since taking power in 2022, Petro has opted to engage well-armed cocaine-producing groups in talks and focused on reducing cocoa plant cultivation, rather than conducting open warfare.

The Trump administration has provided no evidence linking Petro directly to drug trafficking.

Petro's son is accused of accepting money from an alleged drug trafficker for his father's campaign, but the case has not yet been decided in court.

The sanctions announcement was met with a furious response in Bogotá, with Petro firing back: "Not one step back and never on my knees."

Benedetti, the powerful interior minister, was even more defiant.

"This proves that every empire is unjust," he said. "For the US, a nonviolent statement is the same as being a drug trafficker. Gringos go home."

Trump has bristled at Petro's open criticism of his brutal policies. Saying Petro was "a thug" with a "fresh mouth," Trump announced a freeze on hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Colombia. He had already stripped Petro of his US visa before Friday's announcement.