Trump invites Colombia’s Petro to White House after threats

United States President Donald Trump has invited Colombian person Gustavo Petro to the White House, days aft accusing him of trafficking cocaine and threatening subject enactment against his government.

The abrupt detente connected Wednesday followed an hour-long telephone telephone betwixt Trump and Petro, successful which the 2 leaders discussed “the concern of drugs” and “other disagreements”, according to the US president.

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It was their archetypal telephone since Trump’s menace of a subject cognition successful Colombia pursuing the US’s abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro successful a brazen onslaught connected Caracas connected Saturday. The warnings prompted Petro to contented a telephone for Colombians to instrumentality to the streets to support their sovereignty.

“It was a Great Honour to talk with the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who called to explicate the concern of drugs and different disagreements that we person had,” Trump wrote connected his Truth Social platform.

“I appreciated his telephone and code and look guardant to gathering him successful the adjacent future.”

Trump added “arrangements are being made” for a gathering successful Washington betwixt himself and Petro, but gave nary circumstantial day for a meeting.

Petro, Colombia’s archetypal left-wing president, addressed demonstrators who had heeded his telephone for protests astatine Bogota’s Plaza Bolivar pursuing the telephone with Trump. He said a detente was nether mode and that helium had to alteration his code astatine the past minute.

“If we don’t speak, determination is war. Colombia’s past has taught america that,” the erstwhile rebel combatant said.

“And what happened is that we talked and re-established connection for the archetypal time. I talked astir 2 things: Venezuela and the contented of cause trafficking,” helium said. “I gave him our numbers of what we are doing to combat drugs.”

Petro besides accused Colombian politicians of misleading Trump. “Those [people] are liable for this situation – let’s telephone it diplomatic for now, verbal for present – that has erupted betwixt the US and Colombia,” helium said.

Relations betwixt Trump and Petro person been frosty since the Republican returned to the White House successful January 2025.

Trump has repeatedly accused Petro’s administration, without evidence, of enabling a dependable travel of ‌cocaine into the US, imposing sanctions connected the Colombian person successful October.

Earlier this week, Trump described Petro arsenic “a sick antheral who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States” and that helium should “watch his a**” pursuing the US onslaught connected Venezuela.

“He’s not going to beryllium doing it precise long, fto maine archer you,” Trump told reporters connected Sunday, and said a subject cognition determination “sounds good.”

For his part, Petro had condemned the US onslaught connected Venezuela arsenic “abhorrent”, convened exigency meetings earlier the United Nations and the Organization of American States and adjacent threatened to instrumentality up arms again to support Colombia.

Petro and Trump besides sparred past twelvemonth erstwhile Colombia initially banned deportation flights from the US.  Washington successful September besides ⁠revoked Petro’s visa aft helium joined a pro-Palestinian objection successful New York pursuing a gathering of the United Nations General Assembly and called connected American soldiers to “disobey the orders of Trump”.

Petro, who has been a vocal hostile of Israel’s warfare successful Gaza, had accused ‌Trump of being “complicit successful genocide” successful Gaza and called for “criminal proceedings” implicit US rocket attacks connected suspected drug-running boats successful Caribbean waters.

Despite the tensions, for Colombia, the US remains captious to the military’s combat against left-wing rebels and cause traffickers. Washington has provided Bogota with astir $14bn successful the past 2 decades.

For the US, Colombia remains the main root of quality utilized to interdict drugs successful the Caribbean, and the cornerstone of its counternarcotics strategy abroad.

Colombia is besides a “Major non-NATO ally” of the US – a designation that lone belongs to a fistful of countries similar Australia, Japan and Qatar.

“The narration betwixt presidents Trump and Petro is volatile and unpredictable,” said Anthea McCarthy-Jones, an adept successful Latin America affairs astatine the University of New South Wales.

“It seems to oscillate from exchanges involving threats and inflammatory connection to much reasoned attempts to usage diplomacy arsenic a mode forward,” she told Al Jazeera.

Colombia’s government, meanwhile, said practice betwixt the 2 countries connected intelligence, defence and instrumentality enforcement was continuing.

Colombia’s defence curate Pedro Sanchez told The New York Times this week that the “Navy, Coast Guard, Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives” person been uninterrupted.