US recalls acting ambassador from Colombia over “baseless and reprehensible statements”

Colombia’s President Gustavo Gustavo Petro recalled his ambassador from Washington DC in response to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s announcement that he had recalled his acting ambassador from Bogota.

Rubio recalled John McNamara, the Chargé d’Affaires ad interim, “for urgent consultations following baseless and reprehensible statements from the highest levels of the Government of Colombia,” according to a statement on the State Department website.

Additionally, “the United States is pursuing other measures to make clear our deep concern over the current state of our bilateral relationship,” said the statement.

The State Department did not specify which government official had said something that could have offended anyone.

The Secretary of State repeated the claim about the baseless and reprehensible statement on social media platform X, but also failed to specify who allegedly said what.

US House Representative Carlos Gimenez said that “Petro cannot continue to threaten America and then think he can get away with it.”

Gimenez was mentioned by Spanish newspaper El Pais as one of the US officials who had been approached by former Foreign Minister Alvaro Leyva in April in a bid to get foreign support for a coup d’état in Colombia.

In relation to this scandal, Petro said on Wedneday that he did not believe any US Government official was involved in this plot.

The president did recall his ambassador to Washington DC, Daniel Garcia-Peña, in response to Rubio’s surprise announcement.

According to Petro, Garcia-Peña “must come to inform us of the development of the bilateral agenda to which I have been committed since the beginning of my government.”

The president stressed that he was personally responsible for communications with US President Donald Trump.

The relationship between Bogota and Washington have been rocky since Trump took office over major disagreements regarding migration and the climate crisis.