Donald Trump announced yesterday, Wednesday, that he intends to welcome Colombian President Gustavo Petro to the White House “in the near future.” The statement came shortly after the first phone conversation between the two leaders, which took place amid repeated threats from the Republican for potential American strikes on Colombia.
Read: Colombia’s president strikes back: “I’ll take up arms” for homeland if US attacks
According to Trump via his Truth Social platform, Gustavo Petro reached out to him to “explain the situation regarding drugs and other disagreements that have existed.” Meanwhile, the American president stated that he “looks forward” to their meeting.
According to a statement from Colombia’s Foreign Ministry, cited by the French Press Agency, this was the first phone conversation between the social democratic president of the country and Donald Trump, who has previously criticized Petro heavily through media statements and social networks, even going as far as military threats.
The content and duration of the conversation were not specified. However, according to Colombian media outlets, the tone of the conversation, which lasted approximately fifteen minutes, was calm.
The Colombian president has sharply criticized American military action ordered by the Trump administration in the region and accused the US of kidnapping Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro “without legal basis.” Trump, for his part, suggested that Petro would do well to “watch his back,” while characterizing his counterpart as a “sick” person who “likes to take cocaine” and “sell it to the US.”
