The US president announced on his online network Truth Social that US financial aid to Colombia would be stopped “from today onwards”. He misspelled the name of the South American country several times as “Columbia”, the correct English spelling is “Colombia”.
Petro sharply criticized Trump’s decision. The US President is allowing himself to be “deceived” by his advisors. He called on Trump to look into Colombia and then determine in which part of the country “the drug traffickers are and in which part (…) the Democrats are.”
To date, Colombia has received more financial aid from the USA than any other South American country. According to the US government, in 2023 it was 740 million dollars (635 million euros in today’s money). Half of this was used to combat drug trafficking.
Recently, however, relations between the USA and Colombia have deteriorated massively. In September, the Trump administration said it no longer viewed Colombia as an ally in the anti-drug fight. The Colombian government then suspended its arms purchases from the USA.
Washington then revoked Petro’s US visa in September after he gave a speech at a pro-Palestinian demonstration on the sidelines of the UN general debate in New York. The speech included a call for US soldiers not to follow Trump’s orders.
Petro is also a strong critic of Trump’s order to send US warships to the Caribbean. According to Trump, the ships are intended to combat drug smuggling, especially from Venezuela. In recent weeks, US warships have attacked at least six boats, killing at least 27 people.
Trump accuses left-wing nationalist Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of controlling drug gangs. Maduro, in turn, warned of the danger of a US invasion of Venezuela and ordered military exercises to be held to defend the country.
Petro, in turn, accused the USA on Saturday of killing an uninvolved fisherman during an operation against alleged drug boats in Colombian territorial waters. The man killed in an attack in September had “no connection to drug traffickers,” Petro said on the online service X. “We are waiting for explanations from the US government,” he added. US officials had “committed murder” and violated Colombia’s “sovereignty”.
Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the US army attacked another boat on Friday. The boat was linked to the Colombian guerrilla group ELN and had “significant quantities” of drugs on board. Three people were killed in the US attack. The attack took place in international waters.
