Colombia leader resumes criticism of US after detente with Trump

Colombian President Gustavo Petro renewed his criticism of US policy after briefly softening his tone

following a phone call with US President Donald Trump

.

Mr Petro told the BBC in an interview recorded on Jan 8 that Washington is treating other nations as though they are part of “a US empire”, and accused US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents of acting like “Nazi brigades”.

Mr Petro has been one of Mr Trump’s most bitter antagonists in the Americas over the last year. That was until Jan 7 when the two had their first phone call, which Mr Petro described as his chance to clear up the US president’s misconceptions about drug trafficking.

Mr Trump said afterwards that it was an honour to speak with Mr Petro and that he liked his tone.

Addressing supporters in Bogota just after the call, Mr Petro signalled that he had planned to make a “tough” speech attacking Mr Trump, but would now moderate his language. 

Biting his tongue does not come naturally to the firebrand former guerrilla, however, and the moderation would not last long.

He told the BBC that the threat of US military intervention was real, and said that Colombia had been a victim of US violence at the start of the 20th century.  

He also criticised the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement, after an

ICE officer shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis

, which sparked demonstrations across the country. 

“For us, ICE operates the same way as the Nazi and Italian fascist brigades,” he said. “They no longer just persecute Latin Americans in the streets, which for us is an affront, but they also kill US citizens.”

In a more muted interview published on Jan 9, Mr Petro told CBS News that he and Mr Trump had a similar vision for a shared power in Venezuela between the government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez and the opposition.

He also said that a US attack on Colombia would be a “dumb policy” that might trigger a civil war in the Andean nation, according to CBS. 

Mr Trump and Mr Petro are scheduled to meet face-to-face at the White House in the first week of February. 

Mr Petro’s foreign policy approach, which includes posting combative comments on social media in the middle of the night, contrasts with the more measured tactics of other leftist presidents in Latin America, such as Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum and Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who have sought to avoid trouble with Mr Trump where possible. 

When Mr Trump raised the prospect of military action against Colombia after last week’s capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Mr Petro was defiant, calling Mr Trump senile and saying, “Come and get me!”  

In addition to their personality clashes, Mr Trump has repeatedly complained about record Colombian cocaine production.   

In 2025, the US put Colombia on Washington’s list of rogue drug-trafficking nations and also cancelled Mr Petro’s visa after he called on troops to disobey Mr Trump’s orders.

In October 2025, the US Treasury sanctioned Mr Petro and members of his inner circle personally, effectively barring the Colombian President from the US financial system.  BLOOMBERG