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

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

President Petro is “strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs” across Colombia, Trump claimed in a post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, in which he repeatedly spelled it as “Columbia”.

He called Petro a “low rated and very unpopular” leader, warning that he “better close up” drug operations or the US “will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely”.

“The purpose of this drug production is the sale of massive amounts of product 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”, he wrote in capital letters. It was not clear what payments Trump was referring to.

Earlier on Sunday, Petro accused Trump’s government of assassination and demanded answers after the latest US strike in Caribbean waters.

The US said on Saturday it was repatriating to Colombia and Ecuador two survivors from that attack, the sixth since early September. At least 29 people have been killed in strikes that the US has said are targeting alleged drug traffickers.

Last month, the Trump administration accused Colombia of failing to cooperate in the drug war, although at the time Washington issued a waiver of sanctions that would have triggered aid cuts.

Colombia is the world’s largest exporter of cocaine, and the cultivation of the critical ingredient of coca leaves reached an all-time high last year, according to the United Nations. Last year, Petro pledged to tame coca-growing regions in Colombia with huge social and military intervention, but the strategy has brought little success.

‘ We await explanations ‘

Relations between Bogota and Washington have frayed since Trump returned to office.

Last month, the US also revoked Petro’s visa after he joined a pro-Palestinian demonstration in New York and urged US soldiers to disobey Trump’s orders.

Petro urged all American army soldiers to “disobey the orders of Trump” and “don’t point your rifles against humanity.”

Alejandro Carranza, a fisherman from Santa Marta, was killed in a September 16 strike, according to Petro, who claimed responsibility early on Sunday. Carranza claimed Carranza was unaware of any links to drug trafficking and that his boat was acting strangely when it hit.

On X, Petro wrote that “US government officials have murdered people and violated our territorial sovereignty.”

“The Colombian boat had one engine turned on while it was adrift.” The US government’s explanations are still in process.

Petro claimed he had immediately called the attorney general’s office and requested that it start legal proceedings both domestically and internationally. He continued to post numerous messages about the murder.