The US leader has accused Bogota of allowing cocaine trafficking and has stepped up pressure on Gustavo Petro<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump has lashed out at his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, warning he could face consequences over cocaine trafficking that he claims is reaching America.
\nTrump\u2019s remarks followed comments by Petro reacting to US seizures of Venezuelan oil ships, in which he claimed that \u201call of the southern US\u201d was built on stolen land. He said Texas and California were \u201cinvaded\u201d and demanded that the United States \u201cgive back what you stole.\u201d
\n\u201cHe\u2019s very bad, very bad guy, and he\u2019s got to watch his ass because he makes cocaine and they send it into the United States,\u201d Trump said Monday at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, responding to a reporter\u2019s question about Petro\u2019s remarks.
\n\u201cWe love the Colombian people … but their new leader is a troublemaker, and he better watch it,\u201d Trump added. He also claimed Colombia has at least three major cocaine factories and said \u201che better close them up fast.\u201d
\nColombia has long been a close US partner in Latin America, but ties have cooled since Petro, the country\u2019s first left-wing president, took office in 2022.
\nUS actions against Venezuela, including the seizure of oil tankers, have heightened tensions with Petro, who has criticized those moves and warned against US military intervention.
\nIn September, the US State Department said it would revoke Petro\u2019s visa, and the Trump administration later imposed sanctions under anti-drug trafficking authorities, steps Colombia has condemned as politically motivated.
\nA month later, Petro alleged that the Trump administration had bombed a Colombian boat carrying civilians during US operations targeting suspected drug smugglers near the Venezuelan coast.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Russia condemns seizure of Venezuelan tankers<\/p>\n
Petro has pushed back against Trump\u2019s rhetoric, disputing claims about drug production while pointing to Colombia\u2019s efforts to curb illegal crops, although data show the country remains the main source of cocaine seized in the United States.
\nOn Tuesday Colombia said it will deploy drones to destroy coca crops, a shift from manual eradication after aerial fumigation was banned in 2015 due to environmental concerns.
\nWashington\u00a0has long criticized Bogota\u2019s decision to halt aerial fumigation. In September, the US added Colombia to a list of nations it claimed were failing to cooperate in the drug war for the first time in nearly 30 years, accusing Petro\u2019s government of not doing enough to curb cocaine production.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The US leader has accused Bogota of allowing cocaine trafficking and has stepped up pressure on Gustavo Petro US President Donald Trump has lashed out at his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t