Colombia President Gustavo Petro on Wednesday said he held a call with U.S. President Donald Trump and asked to reopen direct communication between the two governments, as thousands of Colombians rallied to protest U.S. military threats tied to the dispute over Venezuela.
Speaking to protesters gathered in Bogotá, Petro said he had arrived with one speech prepared but changed it after his call with Trump. “I had one speech prepared for today, but I have to give another one,” he told the crowd. “The first speech was quite harsh. I had to change it.”
Petro said minutes earlier he had a friendly call with Trump. He also told supporters that his connection to drug trafficking is his “fierce commitment to fighting against it,” and he said he asked Trump to re-establish direct communication between Colombia and the United States. “I asked (Trump) to re-establish direct communication between our governments,” Petro said. “If there is no dialogue, there will be war.”
Trump responded publicly on social media, calling it a “Great Honor” to speak with Petro and saying he appreciated the “call and tone.” “I appreciated his call and tone, and look forward to meeting him in the near future,” Trump wrote. The statement also invited Petro to the White House.
The shift came after weeks of sparring that had pitted Petro, a leftist leader and long-time ally of Washington, against Trump over U.S. actions involving Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. On Wednesday, the day of the rallies, Petro told protesters that the priority was peace and that it could be reached through dialogue. “The priority is peace, and peace is achieved through dialogue,” he said. “Colombia can sleep soundly.”
The rallies were held across Colombia as crowds gathered in public squares “to defend national sovereignty” against Trump’s military threats, the Associated Press reported. Protesters chanted, “Long live free and sovereign Colombia!” Waiting anxiously for what they expected to be Petro’s latest response to Trump’s rhetoric, demonstrators instead heard the de-escalatory message that followed the call.
The episode underscored the political and security stakes of Colombia’s relationship with the United States. For more than three decades, the two countries have worked together, according to the report, to arrest drug traffickers, fend off rebel groups, and boost rural economic development, with U.S. support to Colombia totaling roughly $14 billion over the last two decades. The U.S. role includes providing intelligence that Colombia helps use to interdict drugs in the Caribbean.
In Washington, Michael Shifter, a Latin America expert at the Inter-American Dialogue, said Colombians have been effective at using their contacts in Washington, on the Hill and elsewhere. “The Colombians are extremely effective in taking advantage of their contacts in Washington, on the Hill and elsewhere, and the private sector is mobilized,” Shifter said. He added that he believed some people had been warning Trump that he should not punish Colombia for the sake of pressuring Petro. “People were trying to tell Trump: ‘Look, you can punish Petro to the extent possible, but you don’t want to punish the country. That undermines the fight against drugs and is going to be harmful for the United States.’”
Petro’s confrontation with Trump had escalated in the lead-up to the protests. The Associated Press reported that Trump had called Petro a “lunatic” and an “international drug leader,” revoked Petro’s U.S. visa and the visas of his top officials and diplomats, and imposed sanctions on Petro and other figures on drug-related grounds. The report also said Trump threatened to end all U.S. aid to Colombia and warned of possible U.S. military action on Colombian soil.
Petro, for his part, had cast the dispute as one over national sovereignty and U.S. meddling. The report said he convened emergency meetings before the United Nations and the Organization of American States and had threatened to take up arms against the United States to defend Colombia.
As tension grew, the report said Colombian officials sought to reassure U.S. intelligence agencies that Colombia would continue to coordinate and cooperate against drug trafficking, while defense and foreign policy leaders argued for a less confrontational approach. Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio told reporters Tuesday that authorities were preparing for “the possibility of aggression against our country by the United States,” and she said, “For this, we have a highly trained, very well prepared army.” The report noted that Colombia’s army has received U.S. training.
Experts cited by the Associated Press questioned whether Trump would carry out a military operation against Petro in particular, given that Petro was democratically elected rather than a disputed or ousted leader. Elizabeth Dickinson, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, said Petro personally felt the relationship had already broken down. “Whereas the Colombian institutions still maintain cooperation and have a lot to lose, Petro personally felt like that bridge has already burned,” Dickinson said.
The Associated Press also reported that analysts viewed Petro’s confrontation with Trump as a strategy for political leverage. Sergio Guzman, a political risk analyst based in Bogotá, said Petro wanted an adversarial spotlight aimed at the United States. “He wants this stage where he is the clearest adversary, rhetorically or politically, to the U.S.,” Guzman said. In the report’s description, de-escalation before a military scenario could develop became a key objective for the Colombian government as it tried to navigate both domestic politics and a crucial security partnership.
—— Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america