On Sunday, October 18, U.S. President Donald Trump published a forceful message addressing his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, who has been increasingly aggressive in his rhetoric against the U.S. president in recent days.
On his Truth Social account, the US president pointed out that the Colombian head of state is a leader who encourages drug trafficking and that, until now, he has done nothing to stop this situation.
"Colombian President Gustavo Petro is a drug trafficking leader who encourages massive drug production, both in large and small fields, throughout Colombia," Trump said on his social media account.
He asserted that drug trafficking has become "Colombia's biggest business" and stated that "Petro does nothing to stop it, despite large-scale payments and subsidies from the U.S."
Regarding these payments, he stated that"they are nothing more than a long-term scam," and announced that from now on,"any other form of payment or subsidy will cease to be made to Colombia."
Furthermore, Trump was emphatic with the Colombian president and issued a warning regarding drug production, which continues to reach the United States, causing death and destruction.
“The purpose of this drug production is the massive sale of products to the United States, causing death, destruction, and havoc. Petro, a little-known and highly unpopular leader with a fresh attitude toward the United States, should close these death camps immediately, or the United States will close them, and that will not be welcome,” Trump said.
Last month, the United States had already withdrawn its status as an allied country in the fight against drug trafficking, a certification for which it had received hundreds of millions of dollars from the United States.
Gustavo Petro addressed this very issue in his most recent presidential address last Friday, stating that the decertification was unfair and a scam and slander.
In his public statement, the Colombian president presented several maps of his government's anti-drug campaign, which he used to describe the U.S. decertification as a hoax and slander.
"It shows the type of slander that was built against Colombia, not only against Petro. I have been the personalized victim of the issue. I have dedicated my life in the last few... At least since 2000, to the fight against the ties that exist in Colombia, the de facto political system, which is an alliance between traditional politics and drug trafficking in power," he said.
While explaining the maps, Petro stated that his administration has seized the most tons of cocaine in Colombia's history. He also took the opportunity to criticize the United States' military actions in the Caribbean Sea, pointing out that they will have consequences for Colombia.
"Now we have missiles targeting fishermen in the Caribbean, where Colombia has its sea and its islands. I wouldn't say anything about drug traffickers, because drug traffickers live in luxury cities, not on fishing boats in the Caribbean Sea," the head of state said.
Hours before Trump's statement, the Colombian president had accused the United States of having committed"murder" in Colombian waters, referring to Thursday's attack on a"narco-terrorist" vessel that killed a Colombian fisherman, and demanded that the White House be held accountable for the incident.
