Colombian President Gustavo Petro expressed optimism Friday about a high-stakes White House meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump scheduled for February 3, marking a significant de-escalation after months of hostility. “The talks are going well,” Petro said in a brief message posted Friday on social media, citing an announcement from Colombia’s foreign ministry about preparations for the meeting.
The announcement represents a sharp reversal from tensions that saw the U.S. revoke Petro’s visa and impose sanctions on him and his family. In September, Washington had threatened to revoke his visa following his criticism of U.S. foreign policy at a New York rally.
The diplomatic shift accelerated in early January when Trump took a phone call from Petro, who called to “explain the drug situation and other disagreements we’ve had,” according to Trump’s account.
Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a cordial call Friday to finalize preparations for the meeting. According to State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott, Rubio confirmed during the call that President Petro would receive full diplomatic guarantees — a sharp reversal from prior hostility.
Both governments have indicated the meeting will pivot toward what they termed “common priorities,” including trade, joint economic opportunities, and regional security. The discussions are also expected to focus on intensifying the fight against transnational organized crime.
However, U.S. officials signaled that concerns persist beneath the diplomatic civility. Deputy Ambassador Jennifer Locetta told the U.N. Security Council Friday that even though Trump and Petro are engaging in “productive conversations,” the United States remains “deeply concerned about instability, violence, and illicit drug cultivation and trafficking” in Colombia.
Locetta criticized Petro’s approach to negotiations with armed groups, saying that his experiments to pause combat operations and curb coca eradication while pursuing talks had “emboldened the groups and improved their negotiating position.” The criticism came during a quarterly U.N. Security Council review of the implementation of the peace agreement between the former FARC guerrilla group and Colombia.