{"id":225074,"date":"2025-10-19T17:49:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T17:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/225074\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T17:49:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T17:49:07","slug":"trump-calls-colombian-president-a-drug-dealer-announces-end-to-u-s-aid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/225074\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump calls Colombian President a \u2018drug dealer\u2019, announces end to U.S. aid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has accused the Trump administration of assassination.RODRIGO ARANGUA\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The United States will slash U.S. assistance to Colombia because its leader, Gustavo Petro, \u201cdoes nothing to stop\u201d drug production, U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a> said Sunday, escalating the friction between Washington and one of its closest allies in Latin America.<\/p>\n

In a social media post, Trump referred to Petro as \u201can illegal drug dealer\u201d who is \u201clow rated and very unpopular.\u201d The Republican president warned that Petro \u201cbetter close up\u201d drug operations \u201cor the United States will close them up for him, and it won\u2019t be done nicely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hours later, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the latest U.S. strike on a vessel that was allegedly carrying \u201csubstantial amounts of narcotics.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the vessel was associated with a Colombian rebel group \u2013 the National Liberation Army, or ELN \u2013 that has been in conflict with Petro\u2019s government. He did not provide any evidence for his assertions, but he shared a brief video clip of a boat engulfed in flames after an explosion on Friday. The State Department designated the group as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Petro, who can be as vocal on social media as his American counterpart, rejected Trump\u2019s accusations and defended his work to fight narcotics in Colombia, the world\u2019s largest exporter of cocaine.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrying to promote peace in Colombia is not being a drug trafficker,\u201d Petro wrote, adding that Trump is being deceived by his advisers. Petro described himself as \u201cthe main enemy\u201d of drugs in his country and said Trump was \u201crude and ignorant toward Colombia.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Colombia, Defense Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez told reporters that his country \u201chas used all its capability and also lost men and women fighting drug trafficking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s latest broadside against Petro raises the possibility of an expanding conflict in Latin America, where the U.S. has already increased pressure on neighbouring Venezuela and its leader, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro.<\/p>\n

American naval ships, fighter jets and drones are deployed in the region for what the administration has described as an \u201carmed conflict\u201d with drug cartels. Trump also authorized covert operations inside Venezuela.<\/p>\n

Trump uses expletive in remarks about Venezuelan President Maduro<\/a><\/p>\n

U.S. strike on Caribbean boat leaves survivors, official says<\/a><\/p>\n

Unlike Venezuela, Colombia is a longtime U.S. ally and the top recipient of American assistance in the region. But coca cultivation reached an all-time high last year, according to the United Nations, and there has been fresh violence in rural areas where the government spent years battling insurgents before reaching a peace deal a decade ago.<\/p>\n

In September, the Trump administration accused Colombia of failing to co-operate in the drug war, although at the time Washington issued a waiver of sanctions that would have triggered aid cuts.<\/p>\n

Colombia received an estimated $230 million in the U.S. budget year that ended Sept. 30, a drop from recent years that exceeded $700 million, according to U.S. figures.<\/p>\n

Petro, Colombia\u2019s first leftist president, has repeatedly feuded with Trump this year. Petro initially rejected U.S. military flights of deported migrants, leading Trump to threaten tariffs. The State Department said it would revoke Petro\u2019s when he attended the U.N. General Assembly in New York because he told American soldiers to disobey Trump\u2019s orders.<\/p>\n

Petro and Trump have also been at odds over American strikes on boats in the Caribbean. On Sunday, Petro accused the U.S. government of assassination, pointing to a Sept. 16 strike that he said killed a Colombian man named Alejandro Carranza. Petro said Carranza was a fisherman with no ties to drug trafficking, and his boat was malfunctioning when it was hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States has invaded our national territory, fired a missile to kill a humble fisherman, and destroyed his family, his children. This is Bol\u00edvar\u2019s homeland, and they are murdering his children with bombs,\u201d Petro wrote on social media. He said that he asked his country\u2019s attorney-general\u2019s office to initiate legal proceedings internationally and in U.S. courts.<\/p>\n

The White House and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Petro\u2019s accusations.<\/p>\n

Despite Petro\u2019s criticism, his government plans to prosecute the Colombian survivor of a more recent U.S. strike on a submersible that was allegedly carrying drugs.<\/p>\n

Another survivor was repatriated to Ecuador, where the Ministry of the Interior said he would not face charges after prosecutors met with him and determined that he had not committed any crimes within the country\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n

The ELN, which Hegseth said was the target of Friday\u2019s strike, has long denied any role in drug trafficking and offered to submit to the scrutiny of an international commission. It did not respond to Hegseth\u2019s announcement. Colombian authorities regularly report the dismantling of cocaine laboratories and the seizure of drugs believed to belong to the guerrillas.<\/p>\n

There have been seven U.S. strikes in the region since early September that the administration says are targeting alleged drug traffickers. At least 32 people have been killed.<\/p>\n

Trump said Sunday that Petro had \u201ca fresh mouth toward America.\u201d He complained that drug smuggling continues \u201cdespite large scale payments and subsidies from the USA that are nothing more than a long term rip off of America.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAS OF TODAY, THESE PAYMENTS, OR ANY OTHER FORM OF PAYMENT, OR SUBSIDIES, WILL NO LONGER BE MADE TO COLOMBIA,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Dickinson, senior analyst for the Andes region at International Crisis Group, said \u201cit is befuddling and profoundly unwise of the United States to alienate its strongest military partner in Latin America at a moment when tension between Washington and Venezuela are at its highest point in recent years.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said Washington and Bogota have long treated their relationship as foundational, but \u201cthat wisdom is being thrown out the window, with really catastrophic effects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colombia lost significant U.S. funding when Trump slashed the U.S. Agency for International Development earlier this year. More cuts could affect military co-operation and undermine efforts to fight rebel groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that is cut, we will see a strategic loss of capability for the Colombian military and police at precisely the moment when they\u2019re confronting the greatest security crisis in Colombia for over a decade,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has accused the Trump administration of assassination.RODRIGO ARANGUA\/AFP\/Getty Images…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,43,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,41,39,42,40,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-225074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-headlines","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}