(AFP) – US President Donald Trump appeared to bury the hatchet with his Colombian counterpart Tuesday after months of tensions, praising the leftist leader as he hosted him behind closed doors at the White House. “You are great,” Trump wrote to Gustavo Petro as he signed a copy of his 1987 book “Art of the Deal”, according to a picture posted by the Colombian president after their first ever face-to-face meeting.
The two leaders had dueled online for months over drugs and immigration, while Trump even threatened to topple Petro in a Venezuela-style military operation just a few weeks ago. But any expectations of televised fireworks like those when Trump hosted Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky last year were quelled when reporters were shut out of the Oval Office meeting with Petro. In a low-profile entrance, the Colombian’s car arrived by a side gate with none of the flags and military fanfare typically accorded to heads of state visiting the White House, AFP correspondents said.
And instead of facing questions about whether Petro should still “watch his ass” as Trump warned in January, it was left to the Colombian leader and his office to post pictures of their encounter. “Gustavo: a great honor. I love Colombia,” Trump wrote in a signed photo that Petro also posted on X. The two leaders reclined in gold chairs in the Oval Office as they talked, accompanied by US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio and senior Colombian officials, according to photos released by the Colombian presidency. They also shared a warm handshake in the West Wing colonnade, next to portraits of former US presidents that Trump recently installed along with unflattering biographies of some of his recent predecessors.
Petro also said after the meeting that Trump had agreed to mediate Colombia’s trade war with Ecuador. The South American neighbors have imposed import tariffs of 30 percent on one another in a dispute over how to tackle drug trafficking — also a major political issue for Trump. There was no immediate statement or Truth Social post from Trump, but the White House made positive noises about Petro’s visit too. “I spoke with the president before the meeting, and he was in a very positive head space,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said as the meeting was still under way. “And he was looking forward to sitting down with President Petro to have a conversation.”
It was a far cry from the previous harsh rhetoric between a pair who come from absolute opposite ends of the political spectrum. The Colombian had repeatedly defended Venezuela’s leader Nicolas Maduro, a fellow left-winger, before his capture by US forces on January 3. He also criticized deadly US air strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats. Trump meanwhile has been pressing Colombia to crack down on drug trafficking, threatening military strikes on its territory as he had against both Venezuela and Mexico. After the Maduro raid, an emboldened Trump stepped up his barbs, saying a Venezuela-style action against Petro “sounds good to me.”
But things turned a corner after an unexpectedly warm phone call on January 7. “I mean, he’s been very nice over the last month or two,” Trump said on Monday on the eve of the visit. “He was certainly critical before that, but somehow, after the Venezuelan raid, he became very nice.” Petro said on X shortly before the meeting that during the talks he was “determined to continue strengthening the relationship between two nations that share a common goal: the fight against drug trafficking.” In an apparent reference to the strikes on drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific that have killed more than 100 people, he added that he wanted to do so “from an approach that prioritizes life and peace in our territories.”
In an olive branch to Trump hours before their talks, Petro extradited an accused drug lord to the United States after a months-long suspension on such transfers. Colombia also abruptly agreed on Friday to accept US deportation flights — reversing the very decision that triggered the falling-out between Trump and Petro last year.
– Danny Kemp
© 2024 AFP
