Category World News

EXCLUSIVE

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has stressed the importance of having open lines of communication with the United States despite President Donald Trump’s recent threats of military action.

In an interview with Al Jazeera’s Teresa Bo in Colombia’s capital, Bogota, Petro said his government was seeking to maintain cooperation on combating narcotics with Washington, striking a softer tone following days of escalating rhetoric.

He spoke shortly after holding a phone call with Trump on Wednesday, a direct contact that Petro called a “means of communication that did not exist before”.

Petro, Colombia’s first left-wing president, said that previously, information between the two governments had been transmitted through unofficial channels “mediated by political ideology and my opposition”.

“I have been careful – despite the insults, the threats and so on – to maintain cooperation on drug trafficking between Colombia and the United States,” Petro said.

US threats

Just hours after the US military abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday, Trump turned his threats of military action towards Colombia.

Trump accused Petro – without evidence – of running cocaine mills, calling him a “sick man”.

Asked on Sunday whether he would authorise a military operation against Petro, Trump said, “Sounds good to me.”

In response, Petro promised to defend his country, saying that he would “take up arms” for his homeland.

While temperatures have cooled in the wake of the call between the two leaders on Wednesday, observers have largely seen Trump’s threats as the potential next step in the White House’s stated goal of establishing US “pre-eminence” in the Western Hemisphere.

But the feud between the Trump administration and Petro pre-dated the attack on Venezuela.

The Colombian president has been a vocal critic of Israel’s US-backed genocidal war on Gaza.

In September, Washington revoked Petro’s US visa after he spoke at a pro-Palestine march outside the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Weeks later, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on the Colombian president, who is term-limited and set to leave office after a presidential election in May.

‘Shared government through dialogue’

Petro was among the first world leaders to condemn the abduction of Maduro, calling the US raid an “attack on the sovereignty of Venezuela and Latin America”.

In his interview with Al Jazeera, Petro warned that Venezuela, which borders his country, could fall into violence in the post-Maduro era. He said that “would be a disaster”.

“To that extent, what I have proposed is a shared government through dialogue among all the political forces in Venezuela and a series of steps towards elections,” he said.

Petro added that he has spoken to Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez, and he sensed she is worried about the future of the country.

Greenland’s foreign minister has said the Greenlandic government should “take the lead” in planned talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio as the United States continues to threaten to take over the autonomous Danish territory.

“When it comes to Greenland, it should be Greenland that takes the lead and speaks with the United States,” Vivian Motzfeldt said on Friday, according to Danish broadcaster DR.

She said the Greenlandic government should be able to engage in dialogue with other countries independently of Denmark.

“What would be wrong with us holding meetings with the United States on our own? I assume that we [Denmark and Greenland] share certain common values and policies that both countries stand by,” Motzfeldt said.

Asked if she would prefer to hold next week’s meeting with Rubio without her Danish counterpart, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Motzfeldt refused to comment and stressed that the talks will be held jointly.

“Greenland has been working toward statehood, which would require us to conduct our own foreign policy. But we are not there yet. Until then, we have certain laws and frameworks that we must follow,” she said.

The planned discussions come as US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he wants to take over Greenland – a self-governing territory of Denmark – in remarks that have roiled European leaders.

Trump has hailed the island’s “strategic” importance in the Arctic region and accused the Danish authorities of failing to adequately secure the waters around Greenland – a claim rejected by local politicians.

“We don’t want Russia or China going to Greenland, which – if we don’t take Greenland – you’re going to have Russia or China as your next-door neighbour. That’s not going to happen,” he told reporters in the White House on Friday.

The Trump administration also has refused to rule out using military force to seize Greenland, telling reporters this week that “all options” remain on the table.

Recent US attacks on Venezuela and the abduction of the South American country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, have spurred heightened concerns around what Trump may be planning for Greenland.

Future of NATO

Rubio held talks with NATO chief Mark Rutte on Friday as the transatlantic military alliance has sought to deflect Washington’s interest in Greenland by emphasising efforts to boost security in the Arctic.

A NATO spokesperson said Rutte spoke with Rubio “on the importance of the Arctic to our shared security and how NATO is working to enhance our capabilities in the High North”.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an armed US attack to take Greenland could spell the end for NATO.

But the head of NATO’s forces in Europe, US General Alexus Grynkewich, said earlier in the day that the alliance was far from being in “a crisis”.

“There’s been no impact on my work at the military level up to this point … I would just say that we’re ready to defend every inch of alliance territory still today,” Grynkewich told reporters during a visit to Finland.

“So I see us as far from being in a crisis right now,” he added.

Motzfeldt, Greenland’s foreign minister, also said she had “good expectations” for the upcoming meeting with Rubio but underlined that it is “too early to say how it will end”.