The President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, asked the United States that Nicolás Maduro be extradited to face a trial in Colombian territory. The request was made this Tuesday (27), when the former Venezuelan leader remains detained in a New York prison after being captured in Caracas, in early January, by American forces.
The initiative takes place on the eve of Petro’s first official visit to Washington since Donald Trump’s inauguration, scheduled for next week. The meeting takes place after months of deterioration in the bilateral relationship, marked by public exchanges of accusations and punitive measures adopted by the North American government against Bogotá.
Maduro was taken to the United States after a military operation authorized by Trump, which framed the Venezuelan on charges related to drug trafficking. The former president’s stay in American custody, however, began to be questioned by Petro, who defends that the trial take place in the region, under Colombian jurisdiction.
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The relationship between Petro and the White House has become especially tense since 2025. Trump accused the Colombian president of tolerating the spread of cocaine trafficking to the US and even referred to him as “a sick man”. In the same period, Washington withdrew certification of Colombia’s anti-drug efforts, a gesture with significant political and economic weight.
Tensions deepened in September, when Petro’s visa was canceled following his participation in a pro-Palestinian demonstration in New York and statements that encouraged American military personnel to disobey orders from the Trump administration.
In October, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), linked to the US Treasury Department, included Petro, his wife, his eldest son and the Minister of the Interior, Armando Benedetti, on a list associated with investigations into drug trafficking, money laundering or terrorism, according to US law.
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