Colombia has recalled its ambassador to Washington after President Donald Trump threatened the South American nation amid a dispute over drug trafficking.
Trump lashed out at Colombian President Gustavo Petro in an unhinged Truth Social post on Sunday, calling him an “illegal drug leader” and warning that the U.S. would cut off the large-scale payments and subsidies it provides to Colombia unless the country stops the flow of drugs into the U.S.
In response, Colombia’s foreign ministry said Ambassador Daniel García-Pena had returned to Bogotá for “consultations” with Petro. “In the coming hours, the national government will inform of the decisions taken,” the ministry said, via Reuters.
Trump’s threats against one of the United States’ closest South American allies come as the president escalates his feud with Venezuela from deadly airstrikes targeting alleged drug boats to launching covert CIA operations in the country. Petro said one of the airstrikes in September killed an innocent Colombian fisherman in the Caribbean and accused the U.S. of committing “murder.”
Legal experts and those close to the administration have expressed concern that the strikes that have killed more than two dozen people may amount to U.S. war crimes.
In his social media tirade, Trump also issued a vague threat against Colombia if it fails to control what he described as the flow of drugs from the country.
“The purpose of this drug production is the sale of massive amounts of product into the United States, causing death, destruction, and havoc,” Trump posted. “Petro, a low-rated and very unpopular leader with a fresh mouth toward America, better close up these killing fields immediately, or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.”
Trump has also warned that he would be issuing new tariffs against Colombia but has not revealed any further details so far.
The Trump administration has defended its multiple strikes on Venezuelan vessels, claiming they are targeting “narco-terrorists” who pose a threat to the U.S.
On Saturday, Trump announced that two people who survived a strike on a suspected drug-carrying submarine in the Caribbean last week would not be prosecuted by the U.S. but instead sent to their home countries “for detention and prosecution.”
The attack on the submarine was the sixth such strike carried out by the Trump administration since early September.
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