Overview
- President Donald Trump said Gustavo Petro phoned him on January 7 to discuss narcotics policy and “other disagreements,” and announced plans to meet at the White House.
- Logistics are being handled by Marco Rubio and Foreign Minister Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio, with Colombia’s embassy saying preparations are underway and the tone was constructive, though no date was given.
- The outreach coincided with Petro’s nationwide demonstrations for sovereignty, including a speech at Bogotá’s Plaza de Bolívar and rallies in Cali, Medellín, and Cúcuta, with a protest at the Simón Bolívar International Bridge.
- Petro said he softened a planned hard-line speech after the call of roughly an hour, highlighting voluntary coca crop substitution and hundreds of extraditions as part of his counternarcotics record.
- The dialogue follows days of heightened tensions after a U.S. operation in Caracas captured Nicolás Maduro and after Trump’s public accusations against Petro and suggestions of possible action in Colombia.