In Washington, President Donald Trump used social media on Wednesday to describe a sudden thaw in his public relationship with Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, saying the two had a friendly phone call and that Trump invited Petro to visit the White House “in the near future.” Trump wrote that Petro called to explain “the situation of drugs and other disagreements” the two countries have had, adding that he appreciated the call’s “tone” and looking ahead to meeting him.
The shift landed just days after Trump had taken a sharper posture toward Petro in the context of the U.S. move to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro over the weekend. In comments carried by the Associated Press, Trump said at the time that “Colombia is very sick too,” and accused Petro of “making cocaine and selling it to the United States.” Asked in Sunday remarks about whether U.S. intervention was possible, Trump responded, “Sounds good to me,” and also told reporters about Petro, “He’s not going to be doing it very long, let me tell you.”
On Wednesday, Petro described his own account of the call while addressing protesters in downtown Bogotá. He said he spoke with Trump for roughly one hour and told the crowd that the conversation covered “two things: Venezuela and the issue of drug trafficking.” The demonstrators had chanted slogans against the United States at Petro’s behest shortly before his remarks, as described by the Associated Press.
Petro also told the rally that Colombian politicians had allegedly misled Trump about Petro’s record in order to turn the U.S. president against him. He said those people were responsible for what he described as a diplomatic crisis between the U.S. and Colombia, characterizing it as “diplomatic for now, verbal for now,” according to the account reported by the Associated Press.
Trump’s conciliatory tone appeared particularly striking against the backdrop of Petro’s prior criticism of the U.S. operation in Venezuela. The Associated Press reported that Petro had called the weekend action an “abhorrent” violation of Latin American sovereignty and said it involved “enslavers,” comparing it to a “spectacle of death” like the 1937 bombing of Guernica.
Colombia has long been described as among Washington’s most staunch Latin American allies, and as a pillar in the U.S. counternarcotics strategy, the Associated Press reported. The article said the U.S. has worked for three decades with Colombia to help arrest drug traffickers, fend off rebel groups and support economic development in rural areas, with Colombia identified as a major cocaine producer and an important partner in the drug war.
Even before Trump’s Wednesday post, the Associated Press said tensions between the U.S. and Colombia had been rising for months. The Trump administration imposed sanctions in October on Petro, Petro’s family, and a member of his government over accusations involving participation in the global drug trade. The article also described how Trump had applied pressure toward Maduro by ordering lethal strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats launched from Venezuela in the Caribbean, and later expanded operations to suspect vessels in the eastern Pacific coming from Colombia.
According to the Associated Press, in September the U.S. added Colombia, the top recipient of American assistance in the region, to a list of countries failing to cooperate in the drug war for the first time in nearly 30 years, a step that led to a slashing of U.S. assistance to Colombia. The Associated Press also reported Trump’s Sunday remarks about Petro’s alleged role in the drug trade, including that he said Petro “has cocaine mills and cocaine factories” and that “He’s not going to be doing it.”
The Associated Press story, as provided in the cluster, said it had been updated to correct the spelling of Petro’s name.