Feud casts doubt on future of counter-narcotics and security cooperation between two countries, analysts warn
Colombia has recalled its ambassador to Washington amid a furious war of words between Colombian president Gustavo Petro and Donald Trump over deadly US strikes on boats in the Caribbean.
The row took a sharp turn this weekend when Petro accused the US of “murdering” a Colombian fisher in an attack on a vessel in its territorial waters. Petro and his administration said the mid-September strike was a “direct threat to national sovereignty” and that the victim was a “lifelong fisherman” and a “humble human being”.
In response, Trump, who has claimed such attacks are designed to stop drug-smuggling to the US, called Petro an “illegal drug dealer” and vowed to end aid payments to Colombia, one of the largest recipients of US counter-narcotics assistance. He also ordered Petro to “close up” drug cultivation sites, saying if not “the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely”. Speaking aboard Air Force One, Trump added that he would announce new tariffs on Colombian goods.
In response, Colombia recalled its ambassador to the US for talks in Bogotá on Monday, while its interior minister, Armando Benedetti, said the remarks were a “threat of invasion or military action against Colombia”. Petro said that Colombia’s five-decade conflict stemmed from “cocaine consumption in the United States” and claimed American contributions had been “meagre and null in recent years”.
