Trump calls Colombia’s Petro ‘a drug leader’, says US to cut aid to country

Comments travel aft Petro accused US authorities of execution and demanded answers aft latest onslaught successful Caribbean.

United States President Donald Trump has called his Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro an “illegal cause leader”, announcing that the US volition slash backing to the South American nation.

President Petro is “strongly encouraging the monolithic accumulation of drugs” crossed Colombia, Trump claimed successful a station connected his Truth Social level connected Sunday, successful which helium repeatedly spelled it arsenic “Columbia”.

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He called Petro a “low rated and precise unpopular” leader, informing that helium “better adjacent up” cause operations oregon the US “will adjacent them up for him, and it won’t beryllium done nicely”.

“The intent of this cause accumulation is the merchantability of monolithic amounts of merchandise into the United States, causing death, destruction, and havoc,” Trump added, saying US payments and subsidies to Colombia were a rip-off.

“AS OF TODAY, THESE PAYMENTS, OR ANY OTHER FORM OF PAYMENT, OR SUBSIDIES, WILL NO LONGER BE MADE,” helium wrote successful superior letters. It was not wide what payments Trump was referring to.

Earlier connected Sunday, Petro accused Trump’s authorities of assassination and demanded answers aft the latest US onslaught successful Caribbean waters.

The US said connected Saturday it was repatriating to Colombia and Ecuador 2 survivors from that attack, the sixth since aboriginal September. At slightest 29 radical person been killed successful strikes that the US has said are targeting alleged cause traffickers.

Last month, the Trump medication accused Colombia of failing to cooperate successful the cause war, though astatine the clip Washington issued a waiver of sanctions that would person triggered assistance cuts.

Colombia is the world’s largest exporter of cocaine, and the cultivation of the captious constituent of coca leaves reached an all-time precocious past year, according to the United Nations. Last year, Petro pledged to tame coca-growing regions successful Colombia with immense societal and subject intervention, but the strategy has brought small success.

‘We await explanations’

Relations betwixt Bogota and Washington person frayed since Trump returned to office.

Last month, the US besides revoked Petro’s visa aft helium joined a pro-Palestinian objection successful New York and urged US soldiers to disobey Trump’s orders.

“I inquire each the soldiers of the United States’ army, don’t constituent your rifles against humanity” and “disobey the orders of Trump,” Petro said.

Petro said aboriginal connected Sunday that a Colombian antheral was killed successful a September 16 onslaught and identified him arsenic Alejandro Carranza, a fisherman from the coastal municipality of Santa Marta. He said Carranza had nary ties to cause trafficking and that his vessel was malfunctioning erstwhile it was hit.

“US authorities officials person committed execution and violated our sovereignty successful territorial waters,” Petro wrote connected X.

“The Colombian vessel was adrift and had a distress awesome on, with 1 motor up. We await explanations from the US government.”

Petro said helium had alerted the lawyer general’s bureau and demanded that it enactment instantly to initiate ineligible proceedings internationally and successful US courts. He continued to station a flurry of messages astir the killing.

“The United States has invaded our nationalist territory, fired a rocket to termination a humble fisherman, and destroyed his family, his children. This is Bolivar’s homeland, and they are murdering his children with bombs,” Petro wrote.