Another foreign leader and strident Trump critic has had a rapid about-face after coming under 'threat'. And this in turn has caused President Trump to cool his own condemnations and rhetoric. Colombia's president Gustavo Petro has long been among the fiercest opponents of the US President's Venezuela policy, and especially his weekend military action which ousted Nicolás Maduro. They've frequently clashed over several months of the American military build-up in the southern Caribbean, with Petro being the butt plenty of colorful Truth Social posts by Trump, including labeling Petro "sick".
Suddenly the Colombian leader has made nice after Trump went so far as to hint that his country could be among those facing potential anti-narco trafficking military action, with the NY Times now reporting, "The two leaders spoke for about an hour late Wednesday afternoon in a call facilitated by the US Embassy in Colombia, according to the Colombian presidency." It noted that "A US official also said the call lasted about an hour, which is unusually long for a call between Mr. Trump and another leader." The Colombian side had a similarly positive assessment, with the Foreign Ministry calling it a "good meeting".
And it hasn't taken long, following Trump saying he appreciates Petro's "call and tone" - for him to even get a White House invite. Trump said Petro had "called to explain the situation of drugs and other disagreements that we have had."
Now a future meeting to further advance relations and cooperation is being arranged by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Colombia’s foreign minister, Trump confirmed, which he said he is looking forward to. "I appreciated his call and tone, and look forward to meeting him in the near future," Trump said in a fresh Truth Social post. The meeting will take place at the White House.
A mere days ago Trump had denounced Petro as heading up a "very sick" cartel infested country which he accused of "making cocaine and selling it to the United States" - and then this not very veiled threat and warning: "He's not going to be doing it very long, let me tell you." Trump even ominously responded to a reporter's question about potential military intervention in Colombia with, "Sounds good to me." He earlier said Petro must "watch his ass".
Petro himself is a former member of a guerrilla group and Colombia's first leftist leader in decades but he has sworn to "never to touch a weapon again" - but "for the homeland I would take up arms that I don't want."
Quick change of heart...
Now, Petro is pledging cooperation and blaming the cartels for causing the severely strained relations between Bogota and Washington. Singing a different tune amid the ratcheting Trump pressure he had said as follows:
"I talked about two things: Venezuela and the issue of drug trafficking," he told the crowd in downtown Bogotá, where demonstrators had just minutes earlier chanted slogans against the United States at Petro's behest. Petro explained to the audience that Colombian politicians allegedly linked to narco-trafficking misled the U.S. president about Petro's record to turn Trump against him.
"Those (people) are responsible for this crisis — let's call it diplomatic for now, verbal for now — that has erupted between the U.S. and Colombia," he added.
Trump had earlier this week issued veiled warnings of muscular action against Cuba and Mexico as well, with Mexico likely being the next to try and mend ties with this unpredictable White House.
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