‘Rude and ignorant’: How Colombia’s leader has pushed Trump’s buttons
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Colombia's President Gustavo Petro (left) and US President Donald Trump have sparred openly over migrant deportations and the Gaza conflict.
PHOTO: AFP
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BOGOTA - Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has for months been pushing the buttons of US counterpart Donald Trump, most recently calling him “rude and ignorant”.
As the pair have sparred openly over migrant deportations, the war on drugs and the Gaza conflict, ties between Washington and one of its closest historic allies in Latin America have reached a low point.
On Oct 19, Mr Trump said he would end all aid to the South American nation, the world’s biggest producer of cocaine, and labelled Mr Petro – Colombia’s first-ever leftist president – an “illegal drug leader”.
Mr Trump also threatened new tariffs and unspecified actions to “close up” drug cultivation in the country that produces more cocaine than any other.
Until now, Colombia has received hundreds of millions of dollars in US aid, much of it to fight drug trafficking.
The following is an overview of some of the major dustups between the prickly pair:
‘What Hitler did’
Shortly after Mr Trump returned to the White House for a second term in January, Mr Petro reacted angrily at Washington treating undocumented migrants “like criminals”, returning them to their origin countries in shackles on military planes.
Insisting on “dignified treatment” for migrants, Mr Petro barred US Air Force planes transporting deportees from landing in Colombia.
Washington angrily suspended services for Colombians, and Mr Trump announced stiff trade tariffs. Mr Petro reciprocated.
A backroom deal averted a full-out trade war at the time, but as Mr Petro’s anger over the migration theme continued to percolate, he accused Mr Trump earlier in October of doing “to Latin Americans what Hitler did to the Jews”.
Extreme right coup plot
In June, Bogota and Washington temporarily called home their respective diplomatic envoys after Mr Petro spoke of an alleged plot to overthrow him and hinted at involvement of the “Colombian and American extreme right”.
As the relationship worsened, Washington in September decertified Colombia as an ally
Colombia hit back by halting arms purchases from the United States, until then its biggest military partner.
No visa
A vocal critic of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and the conflict in Gaza, Mr Petro in September joined a protest in New York sporting a Palestinian keffiyeh, a traditional black and white scarf.
Addressing the crowd with a megaphone, he urged US soldiers to “disobey” Mr Trump’s orders and “not to point their rifles at humanity”.
The US State Department accused Mr Petro of “incendiary actions” and revoked his visa
Mr Petro, already back home in Bogota after attending the UN General Assembly, responded: “I don’t care.”
At the UN, he had called for a criminal inquiry into US strikes on boats Washington has claimed, without showing proof, were trafficking drugs in the Caribbean.
‘Rude and Ignorant’
In their most recent tussle, Mr Petro on Oct 18 accused the United States of murder, saying American forces had killed a fisherman with no ties to drug trafficking in a strike inside Colombia’s territorial waters.
The next day, Mr Trump announced ending all aid to the South American country
Bogota and Washington recalled their ambassadors and Mr Trump threatened new tariffs on imports from the country led by a man he described as an “illegal drug leader”.
Mr Trump repeatedly misspelled the country’s name as “Columbia”.
Mr Petro hit back, calling Mr Trump “rude and ignorant”. AFP
