President Gustavo Petro of Colombia, who has had a volatile relationship with President Trump, is under criminal investigation by at least two U.S. federal prosecutors’ offices, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.
The investigations, which have not been previously reported, were being conducted by the U.S. attorney’s offices in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and they have involved prosecutors who focus on international narcotics trafficking as well as agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security Investigations, the people said.
The inquiries have been exploring, among other things, Mr. Petro’s possible meetings with drug traffickers and whether his presidential campaign solicited donations from traffickers, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss active investigations.
The investigations, which are separate, are in their early stages, and it is unclear if any of them will result in criminal charges.
There was nothing to indicate that the White House had a role in initiating either investigation.
But Mr. Trump, who has frequently wielded criminal inquiries as a cudgel against his rivals and enemies, has harshly criticized Mr. Petro, calling him a “sick man.” And he could use the investigations as leverage in seeking more cooperation from Colombia, which is both the world’s top producer of cocaine and one of America’s most crucial allies in cracking down on narco-terrorism in the region.
Mr. Trump could also use the existence of the investigations to try to influence the outcome of Colombia’s presidential elections in May. Mr. Petro, his country’s first left-wing president, is limited to one term but has asked supporters to rally behind his handpicked successor. Over the past year, Mr. Trump has weighed in on several other elections in the region, helping fuel a right-wing wave.
A representative for Mr. Petro did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Representatives from the two prosecutors’ offices — in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York — declined to comment, as did the Drug Enforcement Administration. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.
Soon after the U.S. military raided Caracas in January, capturing the Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and bringing him to New York to face drug trafficking charges, Mr. Trump was asked by reporters whether the military could take action against Colombia. He replied, “It sounds good to me.”
U.S.-Colombian relations have been on more stable footing in recent months. But the prosecutors are investigating Mr. Petro against a backdrop of the White House aggressively ramping up its use of the legal system to help advance the president’s foreign policy agenda.
The top federal prosecutor in South Florida, a Trump loyalist, has also ordered an investigation into Cuba’s leaders for drug, immigration, economic and violent crimes, The New York Times reported this month — after Mr. Trump recently suggested that the United States could initiate “a friendly takeover of Cuba.”
And U.S. officials cited the Justice Department’s indictment against Mr. Maduro as the reason for his capture. Secretary of State Marco Rubio characterized the Venezuelan leader’s seizure earlier this year as largely a law enforcement operation rather than a military invasion.
Mr. Petro has consistently denied having links to drug trafficking, touting his government’s success in curbing the cultivation of coca, the base product for cocaine, and his orders to the military to target armed trafficking groups. He was once part of an urban guerrilla group and has initiated peace talks with armed groups — some of which also have roots as leftist guerrillas — that ultimately failed.
At the same time, Colombian news outlets have reported that people linked to traffickers have tried to channel funds to Mr. Petro, including through his son. His son admitted that illicit money entered his father’s 2022 election campaign, Colombian prosecutors said, but they have not brought criminal charges against Mr. Petro himself. He has denied wrongdoing, describing the accusations as politically motivated.
For the first year of Mr. Trump’s second administration, relations between the White House and Mr. Petro were openly hostile, as the two presidents lobbed personal insults at each other online. Last January, Mr. Petro blocked American military flights carrying deported Colombians from landing in his country, backing down only after Mr. Trump threatened Colombia with steep tariffs.
In September, the United States revoked Mr. Petro’s visa during the United Nations General Assembly after he called for American soldiers to disobey Mr. Trump at a pro-Palestinian rally in New York.
The enmity intensified as the American military bombed boats it said were running drugs in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, prompting Mr. Petro to accuse the U.S. government of committing “murder” in October.
Soon afterward, the Treasury Department placed sanctions on Mr. Petro and members of his family, freezing any assets they might hold in the United States and severely impeding their foreign travel.
“President Petro has allowed drug cartels to flourish and refused to stop this activity,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at the time.
By December, U.S.-Colombia relations had reached a seeming nadir. Mr. Trump said that month that Mr. Petro had better “watch his ass” and accused him of flooding the United States with cocaine. Then came the Jan. 3 raid on Caracas.
But days later, there was a détente. On Jan. 7, Mr. Petro and Mr. Trump held their first telephone call, brokered by Colombia’s ambassador to Washington and the Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, who was eager to forestall further U.S. military involvement in South America.
Afterward, Mr. Trump called it a “great honor,” while Mr. Petro characterized it as “historic.” Mr. Petro visited the White House the following month, and more unexpected friendliness followed.
Mr. Petro will leave office later this year. In the past, the United States has typically waited until heads of state were out of office to unseal charges and seek their extradition, as it did with Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras.
Mr. Hernández was extradited on drug-related charges just weeks after he left office in 2022. He was tried, convicted and sentenced to 45 years in prison, but Mr. Trump pardoned him late last year.
Federico Rios and Simón Posada contributed reporting.
Nicole Hong is an investigative reporter, focused on covering New York and its surrounding regions.
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