Colombian officials on Sunday fiercely rejected President Donald Trump’s comments made in a Truth Social post in which he called Colombian President Gustavo Petro “an illegal drug leader” and declared he would end all aid to the South American nation.
“As the Government of Colombia, we strongly reject these pronouncements and will go to all international bodies in defense of our sovereignty as a State and the dignity of our president, who has always been characterized by his respect for democratic authorities and his frontal fight against drug trafficking,” the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote in a statement obtained by Newsweek.
The ministry added: “Likewise, we reject the use of international cooperation as an instrument of interference in Colombia’s internal affairs. Without cooperation, transnational organizations dedicated to the production and marketing of narcotics will win and the entire region will lose.”
Newsweek reached out to the White House by email on Sunday afternoon outside of normal business hours.
Why It Matters
Trump and Petro have exchanged barbs over the past few days as the U.S. carried out further strikes on boats alleged to be carrying either drugs or individuals with cartel or terrorist associations, with Colombia pushing back on the U.S.’s framing of those operations.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in a message posted to X on Sunday said the most recent operation took out a vessel associated with Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), a group that the U.S. has designated as terrorists.
Hegseth called the group “the Al Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere” and stated that the strike occurred in international waters. The U.S. first designated the group as terrorists in 1997.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) website identifies ELN as “the oldest and one of the most powerful groups in Colombia” that “seeks to control critical areas of the country – particularly those associated with drug trafficking – and frequently engages in armed confrontations with Colombian authorities.”
Petro on Saturday instead had accused the U.S. of committing “murder” with a similar strike last month, saying that the U.S. had violated Colombia’s sovereignty and killed a fisherman named Alejandro Carranza.
What To Know
Trump escalated the matter concerning ELN with a message on Truth Social on Sunday, in which he took aim at Petro and his apparent lack of impact fighting ELN. The president also accused Petro of being “an illegal drug leader” and encouraging ELN and its activities.
“President Gustavo Petro, of Colombia, is an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields, all over Colombia,” Trump wrote. “It has become the biggest business in Colombia, by far, and Petro does nothing to stop it, despite large scale payments and subsidies from the USA that are nothing more than a long term rip off of America.”
“AS OF TODAY, THESE PAYMENTS, OR ANY OTHER FORM OF PAYMENT, OR SUBSIDIES, WILL NO LONGER BE MADE TO COLOMBIA,” Trump wrote. “The purpose of this drug production is the sale of massive amounts of product into the United States, causing death, destruction, and havoc.”
Trump said that Petro “better close up these killing fields immediately, or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.”
Colombia then rejected Trump’s accusations, which the Colombian foreign ministry called “an act of the greatest seriousness” that “go against the dignity of the President of the Colombians, who has led and fought tirelessly drug trafficking in our country, achieving, in his years of government.”
“The communication referred to contains a direct threat to national sovereignty by raising an illegal intervention in Colombian territory, a country that has historically been a valuable ally in the fight against drugs in the region and in the world,” the ministry wrote. “These approaches transgress all the rules of international law and diplomacy, and in particular international treaties that protect the sovereignty, independence and self-determination of countries.”
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia rejects the offensive and disobligent statements against the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro Urrego, and the direct threat against national sovereignty made by the President of the United States Donald Trump, issued by the White House, in which he accuses the Colombian President without any foundation.”
Petro also pushed back on the claims, writing on X on Sunday that the boat struck by the U.S. was a fisherman’s boat from Santa Marta that “belonged to a humble family, lovers of the sea, from which they drew their food.”
Petro on Saturday dedicated much of his X posts to highlighting the “No Kings” protests that took place across the U.S., in which hundreds of thousands of Americans took to the streets to express their anger and frustration with the direction the country has taken under the second Trump administration.
What People Are Saying
Colombian President Gustavo Petro wrote on X on Sunday: “Mr. Trump, Colombia has never been rude to the USA; on the contrary, it has greatly admired its culture. But you are rude and ignorant toward Colombia. Read, as your chargé d’affaires in Colombia did, *One Hundred Years of Solitude*, and he assured you that you will learn something about solitude.”
“I don’t do business, like you do; I am a socialist, I believe in aid and the common good and in the common goods of humanity, the greatest of all: life, put in danger by your oil,” Petro continued. “If I am not a merchant, then much less a drug trafficker; in my heart there is no greed. I could never get along with greed. A mafioso is a human being who embodies the best of capitalism: greed, and I am the opposite, a lover of life and therefore a millennial warrior for life. Greed flees from us, because life is more powerful.”
Petro in a separate post also wrote that he respects “the history, culture and people of the USA,” and said “the problem is with Trump, not the USA.”
President Donald Trump on Saturday posted on Truth Social: “It was my great honor to destroy a very large DRUG-CARRYING SUBMARINE that was navigating towards the United States on a well known narcotrafficking transit route. U.S. Intelligence confirmed this vessel was loaded up with mostly Fentanyl, and other illegal narcotics. There were four known narcoterrorists on board the vessel. Two of the terrorists were killed. At least 25,000 Americans would die if I allowed this submarine to come ashore. The two surviving terrorists are being returned to their Countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia, for detention and prosecution. No U.S. Forces were harmed in this strike. Under my watch, the United States of America will not tolerate narcoterrorists trafficking illegal drugs, by land or by sea. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
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