The phone call that the presidents of Colombia, , and the United States had this Wednesday, reduced the diplomatic tensions between both countries, which had deepened since last Saturday with the arrest in Caracas of the Venezuelan president, .
The governments of both nations highlighted the “constructive tone” of the conversation, which lasted for an hour and put an end, at least for the moment, to a verbal escalation in which Trump even stated that it was like the one that ended with the capture of the Chavista president.
When speaking at a demonstration in Bogotá that he had called “in defense of sovereignty” after Trump’s threats, the Colombian president assured: “In the midst of the debate that has raged for these two, three days, today I had a speech and I have to give another. That is not easy. The first speech was quite hard.”
Trump, for his part, announced that he will meet with Petro at the White House and stated that it was “a great honor” to speak with President Petro, who called him to explain the situation related to drug trafficking and other disagreements between both administrations.
A group of businessmen, politicians and people most trusted by the Colombian president have been the ones who have managed to bring him closer to the White House, after months of discreet diplomacy, reports .
The topics of conversation
Petro told the crowd gathered in the Plaza de Bolívar, in Bogotá, that he spoke with Trump about several issues of bilateral interest, but also particular ones, a mix of defense of Colombia’s interests and his own figure, damaged by Washington’s accusations that he is a leader linked to drugs and their mafias.
Last fall, the United States even sanctioned Petro and his circle (the first lady, Verónica Alcocer; her son Nicolás Petro; and the Minister of the Interior, Armando Benedetti) and put them on the so-called Clinton list, a blacklist of those related to the narcos.
What, then, have the two American leaders talked about?
- They have agreed to reestablish communications between both Governments, through the Foreign Ministry and the State Department, which were interrupted by constant episodes of crisis in the relationship.
- They have talked about the importance of dialogue and . “If there is no dialogue, there is war. The history of Colombia has taught us this,” Petro said in his speech, in which he lamented “the lack of communication with the Trump Government” since he began his second presidential term in January 2025.
- The Colombian president also clarified to his American counterpart, after the persecution he has undertaken, and presented his Government’s figures in the fight against drugs, while highlighting the collaboration he had with the Maduro executive to confront this scourge. “I had to give him the figures, few, the same ones that I have repeated here as to why I am being accused (of being a drug trafficker) if I have been risking my life for 20 years, fighting against traquetos high-powered (mafiosi) and politicians allied to them,” he said.
“I have been risking my life for 20 years, fighting against high-powered ‘traquetos’ (mafiosi) and politicians allied with them”
Gustavo Petro
- Likewise, Petro told him about the work done with the Venezuelan Government to confront drug trafficking: “I told him that with Maduro we had set up joint operations, he there and I here, in (the border region of) Catatumbo”, where the guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN), dissidents of drug trafficking groups, operate.
Petro is a staunch critic of the , in which dozens of boats supposedly loaded with drugs have been sunk and where more than a hundred crew members have died.
This position has deteriorated his relationship with the United States, which in September withdrew his visa and then the Treasury Department included him, along with other people around him, on the list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), known as the Clinton List, after Trump accused him of being a “drug trafficking leader.”
Conversation with Delcy Rodríguez
Petro also informed Trump of the conversation he had two days ago with the president in charge of Venezuela, to whom he proposed a tripartite dialogue with the United States to stabilize Venezuelan society and avoid an outbreak of violence.
“I also spoke two days ago with the current president in Venezuela, Delcy. I have known her since the beginning of all this. I invited her to Colombia. And we want to establish a tripartite dialogue, and hopefully a global one, to stabilize Venezuelan society, which, like in Colombia, could explode into violence among itself and (that) does not occur,” he highlighted.
In that sense, Petro stated that when he meets with Trump at the White House “it’s time to talk” about that proposal, because “the peace of Venezuela is the peace of Colombia and vice versa.”
