After the U.S. captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, a feud broke out between the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, and President Donald Trump.
Petro has now had a change of tone and has agreed to come to the White House to meet with Trump.
While speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One after Maduro’s capture, President Trump said, “Colombia’s 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, let me tell you.”
.@POTUS: “Colombia’s 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, let me tell you.” pic.twitter.com/TkstSRX4WM
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 5, 2026
Petro responded in a fiery post on X, and declared, “If you arrest the president whom a good part of my people want and respect, you will unleash the popular jaguar.”
“Although I have not been a military man, I know about war and clandestinity. I swore not to touch a weapon again since the 1989 Peace Pact, but for the Homeland I will take up arms again that I do not want,” he added.
Hoy veré si las palabras en inglés de Trump se traducen como dice la prensa nacional. Por tanto, más tarde las responderé hasta saber lo que significa realmente la amenaza ilegítima de Trump.
En cuanto al señor Rubio que desliga autoridades del presidente y dice que el…
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) January 5, 2026
The feud now appears to be all smoothed over. President Trump announced on Truth Social Wednesday night:
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. I appreciated his call and tone, and look forward to meeting him in the near future.
Arrangements are being made between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Foreign Minister of Colombia. The meeting will take place in the White House in Washington, D.C.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 7, 2026
Regarding his upcoming meeting with Trump, Petro wrote, “This is Historic. We will talk with Trump about the Peace of the Continent, about sovereignty, about a Pact for Life based on clean energies. The US energy matrix can be decarbonized if the potential of South America’s clean energies becomes a reality.”
Esto es Histórico.
Hablaremos con Trump, de la Paz del Continente, de la soberanía , de un Pacto por la Vida basado en las energías limpias. Se puede descarbonizar la matriz de EEUU si se vuelve real el potencial de energías limpias de Suramérica pic.twitter.com/0bqPP2lAYe
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) January 8, 2026
In a post Thursday morning, Petro asserted that it was due to the intervention of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) that his meeting with Trump is now planned. He wrote:
These stories aren’t true; the start of this conversation is due to methodical diplomatic work done by our ambassador Daniel Garcíapeña in Washington.
He spoke with several Republican and Democratic congressmen.
In the conversations, the Republican senator from Kentucky, a doctor by profession: Rand Paul, decided to help reestablish communication that, in reality, had never existed.
Senator Rand Paul managed to speak with President Donald Trump the day before yesterday and convinced Trump of a phone call with me, which I accepted, because I’ve always been convinced since I was young that it’s always better to dialogue to stop the violence.
The U.S. Embassy in Colombia got to work and very aptly managed the communication with a special phone, which they set up in my office before I went out to speak to the Colombian people.
The call lasted 55 minutes, during most of the time he let me set out my points of view on two topics: drug trafficking and Venezuela.
I laid out my policy against the narco that spans nearly 20 years, and my opinion on what comes next in Venezuela to achieve national dialogue among Venezuelans. I requested that the tension between Latin America and the U.S., 28 countries have signed a statement in defense of national sovereignty, including three European countries, and 10 no, and I explained my proposal made to Biden and to him in writing about an alliance based on respect for nations and clean energies that could do, with an investment of $500 billion, generate clean energy so that the energy matrix is 100% decarbonized in the U.S. and we help, as an entire continent, to prevent the climate crisis from ending in irreversible and deadly collapse for humanity.
I know that President Trump doesn’t agree with me, but it’s more convenient to start a dialogue about it than to settle it on battlefields.
President Donald Trump responded courteously and, afterward, expressed himself in writing and I in the public square.
Now we have to see the consequences of the reestablishment of diplomatic conversation.
Estás historias no son ciertas, el comienzo de esta conversación se debe a un metódico trabajo diplomático hecho por nuestro embajador Daniel Garcíapeña en Washington.
Él conversó con varios congresistas republicanos y demócratas.
En las conversiones, el senador repúblicano de… https://t.co/HxEBYC8Bs0
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) January 8, 2026
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