US to cut off aid to Colombia as Trump calls Petro ‘illegal drug leader’
In a social media post, Trump called Petro “low rated and very unpopular,” warning that the Colombian leader “better close up” drug operations
MAR-A-LAGO, United States (MNTV) – US President Donald Trump announced that Washington will halt financial aid to Colombia, accusing President Gustavo Petro of failing to curb drug production and labeling him “an illegal drug leader.”
In a social media post, Trump called Petro “low rated and very unpopular,” warning that the Colombian leader “better close up” drug operations “or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.”
Writing from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump alleged that Petro was “strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields” across Colombia — which he initially misspelled as Columbia before correcting. “Petro does nothing to stop it, despite large-scale payments and subsidies from the USA that are nothing more than a long-term rip-off of America,” Trump said.
“As of today, these payments, or any other form of payment or subsidies, will no longer be made to Colombia,” he declared, adding that Petro had shown “a fresh mouth toward America.”
Earlier Sunday, President Petro accused the US government of assassinations and demanded answers following a recent American strike in Caribbean waters. The US said on Saturday it was repatriating to Colombia and Ecuador two survivors from that attack — the sixth since early September. At least 29 people have been killed in the strikes, which Washington says targeted suspected drug traffickers.
In September, the Trump administration accused Colombia of failing to cooperate in the drug war, though it issued a temporary waiver of sanctions that would have triggered aid cuts. Colombia remains the world’s largest exporter of cocaine, and coca cultivation reached an all-time high last year, according to the United Nations.
More recently, the US State Department reportedly revoked Petro’s visa during his visit to New York for the UN General Assembly, after he participated in a protest urging American soldiers to “disobey the orders of Trump” and “not point your rifles against humanity.”
Petro said a Colombian fisherman, Alejandro Carranza, was killed in a Sept. 16 strike, insisting he had no ties to drug trafficking and that his boat had malfunctioned when it was hit.
“US government officials have committed murder and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters,” Petro wrote on X. “The Colombian boat was adrift and had a distress signal on, with one engine up. We await explanations from the US government.”
He said he had alerted Colombia’s attorney general’s office to initiate legal proceedings internationally and in US courts, accusing Washington of “invading national territory” and “murdering Bolívar’s children with bombs.”
Meanwhile, Noticias Caracol reported that an injured Colombian repatriated from the most recent strike remains hospitalized in serious condition. Interior Minister Armando Benedetti said the man would face prosecution upon return, claiming he had been aboard a boat “full of cocaine.”
Petro, however, insisted the vessel was a “narco submarine.”
Ecuador’s Interior Ministry also confirmed that an Ecuadorian man, Andrés Fernando Tufiño Chila, was repatriated from the same strike. Officials said he was in good health and that prosecutors found no evidence of criminal activity within Ecuador’s borders.
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