Former President Donald Trump leveled serious accusations against Colombia’s leader, calling him an ‘illegal drug dealer,’ and hinted at potential U.S. intervention if changes aren’t made.
On Sunday morning, Trump unleashed a sharp critique of President Gustavo Petro on Truth Social, cautioning that any actions taken would be forceful.
In his post, Trump claimed, “President Gustavo Petro of Colombia is a drug kingpin who actively promotes extensive drug production across the country.”
He asserted that drug trafficking has become Colombia’s most lucrative industry, alleging that Petro fails to address the issue despite significant U.S. financial aid, which Trump described as exploitative of American resources.
Trump announced that the U.S. would halt all financial support to Colombia.
“Starting today, no payments or subsidies will be provided to Colombia,” he declared.
‘The purpose of this drug production is the sale of massive amounts of product into the United States, causing death, destruction, and havoc.’
He went on to label Petro, who became president in 2022, ‘a low rated and very unpopular leader, with a fresh mouth toward America.’
President Donald Trump (pictured Friday) accused Colombia’s president of being an ‘illegal drug dealer’ and threatened to have the US intervene if he doesn’t clean up his act
Trump said if the Colombian leader doesn’t ‘close up these killing fields immediately’ the US ‘will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.’
America has sent more than $207 million in foreign aid to Colombia this year, according to data from ForeignAssistance.gov.
The threat comes about a month after the foreign leader ‘urged U.S. soldiers to disobey orders and incite violence’ in New York City.
Petro, who was in the Big Apple for the United National General Assembly at the time, told a crowd outside the U.N. headquarters: ‘I ask all the soldiers of the army of the United States not to point their guns at people. Disobey the orders of Trump. Obey the orders of humanity!’
Soon after, the State Department announced that Petro would lose his visa, though he had already left the country for Bogota following the protest, the BBC reported.
‘Earlier today, Colombian president @petrogustavo stood on a NYC street and urged U.S. soldiers to disobey orders and incite violence. We will revoke Petro’s visa due to his reckless and incendiary actions,’ the department said.
That same day, Petro’s social media profile showed he had reposted several video clips of himself speaking at a gathering of pro-Palestinian protesters and former Pink Floyd guitarist Roger Waters in New York.
The threat comes about a month after the Petro (pictured on September 23) ‘urged U.S. soldiers to disobey orders and incite violence’ in New York City
Petro also demanded criminal proceedings against Trump over a series of deadly strikes on boats in the Caribbean, insisting the passengers were poor young men rather than members of a notorious gang.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly, Petro condemned three attacks near the coast of Venezuela, Colombia’s neighbor.
The White House has defended the strikes as operations against drug traffickers. Petro accused the former president of criminalizing poverty and migration.
He said: ‘Criminal proceedings must be opened against those officials, who are from the U.S., even if it includes the highest-ranking official who gave the order: President Trump.’
He added that passengers killed in the strikes were not members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang, as claimed by the Trump administration after the first attack.
Petro said the passengers ‘were simply poor young people from Latin America who had no other option.’
Later in an interview with the BBC, he called the strikes an ‘act of tyranny’ and questioned the US’ methods.
‘Why launch a missile if you could simply stop the boat and arrest the crew,’ he asked. That’s what one would call murder.’
He added: ‘We have a long history of collaborating with American agencies and other agencies of carrying out maritime seizures of cocaine,” he said. “No one has ever died before. There is no need to kill anyone.’
The Daily Mail contacted Petro’s office for comment.
This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.
