Trump invites Colombian president to White House after threatening his
country with military strike
[January 08, 2026]
By WILL WEISSERT
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump abruptly changed his tone
Wednesday about his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, saying they
had exchanged a friendly phone call and he’d even invited the leader of
the South American country to the White House.
“It was a Great Honor to speak with the President of Colombia, Gustavo
Petro, who called to explain the situation of drugs and other
disagreements that we have had,” Trump posted on his social media site.
“I appreciated his call and tone, and look forward to meeting him in the
near future.”
He wrote that the upcoming meeting would take place at the White House.
That came mere days after Trump said in the wake of the U.S. operation
to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro over the weekend that
“Colombia is very sick too” and accused Petro of ”making cocaine and
selling it to the United States."
In comments to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump added of
Petro, “He’s not going to be doing it very long, let me tell you.” Asked
whether U.S. intervention was possible, Trump responded, ”Sounds good to
me.”
Later Wednesday, addressing thousands of protesters that he had
mobilized to rally against U.S. military threats, Petro said he had
spoken with Trump for roughly one hour.
“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 said.
Trump now suddenly warming to Petro is especially surprising since
Colombia’s president called the U.S. operation in Venezuela an
“abhorrent” violation of Latin American sovereignty. He also suggested
it was committed by “enslavers” and constituted a “spectacle of death”
comparable to Nazi Germany’s 1937 carpet bombing of Guernica, Spain.
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Colombian President Gustavo Petro addresses supporters in a rally he
called to protest comments by U.S. President Donald Trump, in
Bogota, Colombia, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago
Saldarriaga)
Colombia has long been among America’s staunchest Latin American
allies, a pillar of Washington’s counternarcotics strategy abroad.
For three decades, the U.S. has worked closely with Colombia, the
world’s largest producer of cocaine, to arrest drug traffickers,
fend off rebel groups and boost economic development in rural areas.
Still, before Trump's conciliatory post, tensions had been rising
between the U.S. and Colombia for months.
The Trump administration imposed sanctions in October on Petro, his
family and a member of his government over accusations of
involvement in the global drug trade. Colombia is considered the
epicenter of the world’s cocaine trade.
Trump began his monthslong pressure campaign on Maduro by ordering
dozens of lethal strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats launched
from Venezuela in the Caribbean. He eventually expanded the
operations to also target suspected vessels in the eastern Pacific
that came from Colombia.
The U.S. in September added Colombia, the top recipient of American
assistance in the region, to a list of nations failing to cooperate
in the drug war for the first time in almost 30 years. The
designation led to a slashing of U.S. assistance to the country.
“He has cocaine mills and cocaine factories," Trump said of Petro on
Sunday. "He’s not going to be doing it.”
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Associated Press writer Isabel DeBre in Buenos Aires, Argentina,
contributed to this report.
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