President Trump spoke on the phone Wednesday with Colombian President Gustavo Petro, after months of tensions between the two leaders boiled over in recent days, with Mr. Trump calling Colombia a “sick man” and suggesting military action in the country “sounds good to me.”
Mr. Trump said on Truth Social he “appreciated [Petro’s] call and tone,” adding that the two leaders are planning to meet at the White House at some point. The U.S. president said Petro called “to explain the situation of drugs and other disagreements that we have had.”
Colombia’s embassy in the U.S. said in a statement the country “welcomes the constructive tone of the exchange” and “remains committed to open dialogue.”
A Colombian official familiar with the conversation told CBS News the call was “very positive,” describing it as a “180° change” in both sides’ rhetoric.
A high-level Colombian official said in response to the call: “we did it!”
Petro said in a post on X that he and Mr. Trump discussed their disagreements over “his vision of the relationship between the United States and Latin America.” He said he believes the United States can partner with the region on energy, fueled by billions in U.S. investments, but the U.S. shouldn’t use the region exclusively for oil.
Petro included an image of a jaguar and a bald eagle embracing. The Colombian leader has repeatedly warned in recent months that U.S. strikes on Colombia would “awaken the jaguar.”
Relations between the U.S. and Colombia have been tense for months, with the Trump administration accusing the Colombian government of failing to contain a spike in cocaine production. In October of last year, Mr. Trump called Petro an “illegal drug leader,” and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced sanctions on Petro and his family, claiming he “has allowed drug cartels to flourish and refused to stop this activity.”
Petro, meanwhile, has been a staunch critic of the U.S.’s military buildup near Latin America. He denounced the Trump administration’s strikes on alleged drug boats in a September speech before the United Nations, and days later, he said during a New York protest rally that members of the U.S. military should “disobey the orders of Trump.” The State Department revoked Petro’s visa in response, calling his actions “reckless and incendiary.”
The tensions have ratcheted up since the U.S. military’s overnight capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro over the weekend, which Petro denounced as an act of “aggression.”
A day after the operation, Mr. Trump expressed ire toward Petro, telling reporters: “Colombia is very sick, too, run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States, and he’s not going to be doing it very long.”
Asked whether that means there could be some kind of U.S. operation in Colombia, Mr. Trump responded, “It sounds good to me.”
Petro — a former member of a guerrilla group and Colombia’s first leftist leader in decades — responded forcefully early Monday morning. He wrote on X that he “swore never to touch a weapon again,” but “for the homeland I would take up arms that I don’t want.”
