PALM BEACH, FLORIDA — PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump said Sunday he will cut U.S. funding to Colombia because the country’s leader is “doing nothing to stop” drug production, the latest sign of friction between Washington and one of its closest allies in Latin America.
In a social media post, Trump referred to Colombian President Gustavo Petro as an “illegal drug dealer” who was “low-rated and very unpopular.” He warned that Petro had better “shut down” the drug operations “or the United States will shut them down for him, and that won’t go over well.”
While at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that Petro is “aggressively encouraging mass production of narcotics, in fields large and small” throughout Colombia, which the Republican president described as Colombia. “Petro is doing nothing to stop it, despite massive payments and subsidies from the United States that are nothing more than a long-term scam for America,” Trump said.
“As of today, these payments or any other form of payment or benefits will not be sent to Colombia,” Trump said. He also said that Pietro had a “fresh mouth for America.”
Earlier on Sunday, Petro accused the US government of assassination and demanded answers after the latest US strike in Caribbean waters. The United States said on Saturday that it would return to Colombia and Ecuador survivors of this attack, the sixth since early September. At least 29 people were killed in attacks that the United States said targeted alleged drug traffickers.
In September, the Trump administration accused Colombia of committing war crimes Failure to cooperate In the drug war, though, Washington at the time issued a sanctions waiver that would have resulted in aid cuts. Colombia is the world’s largest exporter of cocaine and grows the vital component of the coca leaf It has reached an all-time high Last year, according to the United Nations.
Most recently, the State Department said it would revoke Petro’s visa while he was in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly due to his participation in a protest in which he called on American soldiers to stop following Trump’s orders. “I ask all soldiers of the United States Army not to point their rifles against humanity” and “disobey Trump’s orders,” Petro said.
Petro said a Colombian man was killed in a raid on September 16, and identified him as Alejandro Carranza, a fisherman from the coastal town of Santa Marta. He said Carranza had nothing to do with drug trafficking and that his boat was broken down when he was hit.
“US government officials committed murder and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters,” Petro wrote on X. “The Colombian boat was veering off course and was carrying a distress signal, with one of its engines running. We are awaiting clarifications from the US government.”
Petro said he informed the Attorney General’s Office and asked it to take immediate action to initiate legal proceedings at the international level and in American courts. He continued to post a series of messages early Sunday about the murder.
“The United States invaded our national territory, launched a missile to kill a humble fisherman, and destroyed his family and children,” Petro wrote. “This is Bolivar’s homeland, and they are killing his children with bombs.”
Meanwhile, Noticias Caracol, a Colombian news program, reported that the man injured in the latest strike was taken to hospital after being repatriated and remains in serious condition.
It quoted Colombian Interior Minister Armando Benedetti as saying that the Colombian “will be tried, and he will be received – forgive the harsh expression – as a criminal, because what is known so far is that he was carrying a boat full of cocaine, which in our country is a crime, and although he was in international waters, his return to his homeland will be as if he were being tried in the United States.”
Petro said the man was on board a “drug submarine.”
The Ecuadorian Interior Ministry confirmed in a statement sent to The Associated Press on Sunday that the United States had returned an Ecuadorian man injured in the latest strike. Officials identified him as Andres Fernando Tuvino Chela, and said a doctor found him in good health.
The Ministry indicated that two public prosecutors met with Tovino Chela and decided that he had not committed any crimes within the country’s borders and that there was no evidence to the contrary.
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Cotto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.