Overview
- Trump said he will host Gustavo Petro at the White House in the first week of February to focus on stopping drug flows, calling the meeting "phenomenal" and their recent phone call "really good."
- Petro urged Latin American states and militaries to coordinate against armed narcotrafficking groups and said he invited Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, to work together.
- Venezuela’s communications minister stated Rodríguez has no immediate travel plans, a clarification that followed Petro’s public invitation.
- Strains intensified after Trump publicly linked Petro to cocaine production and said he might send U.S. troops to Colombia, while Petro described a potential U.S. action as a "real threat."
- The exchanges follow a U.S. operation in Caracas that led to Nicolás Maduro’s detention and a unity call from FARC dissident Iván Mordisco, which Petro rejected as a destabilizing excuse tied to drug trafficking.