Trump calls Colombia’s Petro an ‘illegal drug leader’ and announces an end to US aid to the country

PALM BEACH Fla AP The United States will slash assistance to Colombia because its leader Gustavo Petro does nothing to stop drug production President Donald Trump disclosed Sunday escalating the friction between Washington and one of its closest allies in Latin America In a social media post Trump referred to Petro as an illegal drug leader who is low rated and very unpopular The Republican president warned that Petro better close up drug operations or the United States will close them up for him and it won t be done nicely Hours later Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reported the latest U S strike on a vessel that was allegedly carrying substantial amounts of narcotics He declared the vessel was associated with a Colombian rebel group the National Liberation Army or ELN that has been in conflict with Petro s establishment He did not provide any evidence for his assertions but he shared a brief video clip of a boat engulfed in flames after an explosion on Friday Petro who can be as vocal on social media as his American counterpart rejected Trump s accusations and defended his work to fight narcotics in Colombia the world s largest exporter of cocaine Trying to promote peace in Colombia is not being a drug trafficker Petro wrote He suggested that Trump was being deceived by his advisers described himself as the main enemy of drugs in his country and reported Trump was being rude and ignorant toward Colombia The Colombian Foreign Ministry described Trump s declaration as a direct threat to national sovereignty by proposing an illegal intervention in Colombian territory Defense Minister Pedro S nchez described reporters that the country has used all its capability and also lost men and women fighting drug trafficking Trump s latest broadside against Petro raises the possibility of an expanding clash in Latin America where the U S has already increased pressure on neighboring Venezuela and its leader Nicol s Maduro American naval ships fighter jets and drones are deployed in the region for what the administration has described as an armed conflict with drug cartels Trump also authorized covert operations inside Venezuela Unlike Venezuela Colombia is a longtime U S ally and the top recipient of American assistance in the region But coca cultivation reached an all-time high last year according to the United Nations and there has been fresh violence in rural areas where the regime spent years battling insurgents before reaching a peace deal a decade ago In September the Trump administration accused Colombia of failing to cooperate in the drug war although at the time Washington issued a waiver of sanctions that would have triggered aid cuts Colombia received an estimated million in the U S budget year that ended Sept a drop from latest years that exceeded million according to U S figures Petro Colombia s first leftist president has repeatedly feuded with Trump this year Petro initially rejected U S military flights of deported settlers leading Trump to threaten tariffs The State Department mentioned it would revoke Petro s when he attended the U N General Assembly in New York because he stated American soldiers to disobey Trump s orders Petro and Trump have also been at odds over American strikes on boats in the Caribbean On Sunday Petro accused the U S regime of assassination pointing to a Sept strike that he announced killed a Colombian man named Alejandro Carranza Petro revealed Carranza was a fisherman with no ties to drug trafficking and his boat was malfunctioning when it was hit The United States has invaded our national territory fired a missile to kill a humble fisherman and destroyed his family his children This is Bol var s homeland and they are murdering his children with bombs Petro wrote on social media He reported that he questioned his country s attorney general s office to initiate legal proceedings internationally and in U S courts The White House and the Pentagon did not instantly respond to requests for comment on Petro s accusations Despite Petro s criticism his establishment plans to prosecute the Colombian survivor of a more current U S strike on a submersible that was allegedly carrying drugs Another survivor was repatriated to Ecuador where the Ministry of the Interior declared he would not face charges after prosecutors met with him and determined that he had not committed any crimes within the country s borders The ELN which Hegseth declared was the target of Friday s strike has long denied any role in drug trafficking and offered to submit to the scrutiny of an international commission It did not respond to Hegseth s announcement Colombian government regularly analysis the dismantling of cocaine laboratories and the seizure of drugs deduced to belong to the guerrillas There have been seven U S strikes in the region since early September that the administration says are targeting alleged drug traffickers At least people have been killed Trump noted Sunday that Petro had a fresh mouth toward America He complained that drug smuggling continues despite large scale payments and subsidies from the USA that are nothing more than a long term rip off of America AS OF IN THE CURRENT ERA THESE PAYMENTS OR ANY OTHER FORM OF PAYMENT OR SUBSIDIES WILL NO LONGER BE MADE TO COLOMBIA he added Elizabeth Dickinson senior analyst for the Andes region at International Problem Group announced it is befuddling and profoundly unwise of the United States to alienate its strongest military partner in Latin America at a moment when tension between Washington and Venezuela are at its highest point in newest years She reported Washington and Bogota have long treated their relationship as foundational but that wisdom is being thrown out the window with really catastrophic effects Colombia lost notable U S funding when Trump slashed the U S Agency for International Evolution earlier this year More cuts could affect military cooperation and undermine efforts to fight rebel groups If that is cut we will see a strategic loss of capability for the Colombian military and police at precisely the moment when they re confronting the greatest defense predicament in Colombia for over a decade she explained Coto shared from San Juan Puerto Rico and Su rez from Bogot Colombia This story has been corrected to reflect Trump called Petro an illegal drug leader not an illegal drug dealer Source