By Jennifer Hansler, Stefano Pozzebon, CNN

(CNN) — The Trump administration said Monday that Colombia had “failed demonstrably” in its obligations to fight drug trafficking but the US will continue to provide funding to the country.

Although the decision to “decertify” Colombia but continue assistance avoids what experts said was the worst-case scenario of cutting off millions in funding, it is still a significant symbolic move.

It is likely to further harm the already rocky relationship between Washington and Bogota at a time when the Trump administration says countertrafficking is a top priority. The administration has militarized its response and conducted two deadly strikes on alleged traffickers in international waters around South America in the past several weeks.

The presidential determination, released Monday night, said that although Colombia has “failed demonstrably” over the past year, US assistance to Colombia “is vital to the national interests of the United States.” It blamed the de-certification on Colombian President Gustavo Petro, an outspoken critic of US President Donald Trump.

The US also designated Afghanistan, Bolivia, Myanmar and Venezuela as having “failed demonstrably” in upholding counternarcotics agreements during the past year.

While Petro has called for his country to create “peaceful alternatives” to coca-cultivation rather than prosecuting farmers and small-scale traffickers, the Trump administration has ratcheted up its “war” against the traffickers, designating numerous Latin American cartels and criminal organizations as foreign terrorist organizations.

“In Colombia, coca cultivation and cocaine production have surged to all-time records under President Gustavo Petro, and his failed attempts to seek accommodations with narco-terrorist groups only exacerbated the crisis,” the determination said.

“Colombia’s security institutions and municipal authorities continue to show skill and courage in confronting terrorist and criminal groups, and the United States values the service and sacrifice of their dedicated public servants across all levels of government,” it said. “The failure of Colombia to meet its drug control obligations over the past year rests solely with its political leadership.”

“I will consider changing this designation if Colombia’s government takes more aggressive action to eradicate coca and reduce cocaine production and trafficking, as well as hold those producing, trafficking, and benefiting from the production of cocaine responsible, including through improved cooperation with the United States to bring the leaders of Colombian criminal organizations to justice,” it said.

Petro addressed the news in his weekly televised Cabinet meeting on Monday night.

“The US de-certified us, after tens of deaths among police officers, soldiers and civilians who were trying to impact the trafficking of cocaine,” Petro said.

Colombia is the world’s leading producer of cocaine, accounting for almost two thirds of total cocaine production, according to the United Nations Office for Drug and Crime (UNODC).

Last week, in an effort to be re-certified, a senior Colombian delegation visited Washington to emphasize the “strong cooperation” between the two countries and the progress they had made in the fight against drug trafficking.

Gen. Carlos Fernando Triana Beltrán, the director general of the Colombian National Police, and Adm. Francisco Hernando Cubides Granados, the general commander of the Colombian Military Forces, said that they have seized hundreds of metric tons of cocaine and destroyed hundreds of hectares of coca crops.

They noted that Colombia is on the “front line” of the “war” against illicit drugs. Just weeks ago, they said, more than a dozen police officers and their working dogs were killed when their State Department-provided helicopter was shot down by armed dissidents.

“Our presidents are on different sides of the ideological divide, but on the issues of fighting drugs, fighting these transnational criminal organizations, we have a national commitment,” Colombian Ambassador to the US Daniel García-Peña said last week. “We’re doing this because the drug trafficking has affected our country more than any country in the world, and we’re going to continue doing regardless of what happens. Obviously, we can do this much better if we do it together.”

Petro has repeatedly clashed with the Trump administration. Just over a week into Trump’s second term, Petro blocked the landing of two US military flights of deported migrants, accusing the US of treating Colombian migrants like criminals. Colombia later agreed to accept the deportees and deployed its own planes to assist in their return.

Petro recently criticized Washington’s deployment of several warships in the Caribbean Sea and its deadly strike on an alleged drug vessel that killed 11 people.

The US carried out another deadly strike on an alleged drug vessel on Monday, Trump said.

“If Colombia were to be de-certified, drug traffickers would be the winners and nations would lose, because we would no longer have the capacity to contain those drugs and they would arrive to other shores,” Colombia’s defense minister Ret. Gen. Pedro Sanchez warned in an interview with CNN last week.

The last time Colombia was de-certified was in 1997 under the presidency of Ernesto Samper. Since then, the Andean country has become Washington’s most reliable ally in South America on national security and defense.

Colombian and US agencies collaborate closely on efforts to counter drug trafficking and transnational crime. Colombian officers regularly train with US armed forces, and the Colombian army is a major client of US weapons manufacturers. The US has historically provided tens of millions in security assistance to Bogota.

Retired US Amb. Todd Robinson, who served as the top State Department official for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs during the Biden administration, said that it “would be a really bad signal” if the US and Colombia are unable to maintain their relationship.

Many in Colombia resent the idea that only drug producing countries should fight trafficking.

Gloria Miranda, who’s in charge of the crop substitution program run by the Colombian state, told CNN that the “consuming nations must do their fair share and support us, because that is the other face of drug trafficking.”

This story has been updated with additional details.

Andrea Gomez and Fernando Ramos contributed reporting

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