Why Is Colombia’s President Provoking Trump?

4 comments

1. Gisela Salim-Peyer: “Last month, Donald Trump called Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, an ‘illegal drug leader.’ That gave Colombians reason to worry: The last country whose president Trump accused of running a drug enterprise was Venezuela, and those accusations served as justification to send a flotilla of warships to lurk by its coasts and blow up boats. Republican officials are now threatening to go to war with Venezuela. If Petro is a drug lord, does that mean that the United States might go to war with Colombia, too?

   “In an interview with Univision two weeks ago, Petro didn’t appear all that concerned about the prospect. He used the airtime to discuss various other topics, such as his pique at not being invited to the opera singer Andrea Bocelli’s concert in his country. Then, an hour and 20 minutes into the interview, Petro offered what sounded like a Freudian analysis of Trump’s persona, ruminating about genitals and machismo. Toward the end, Petro suggested that David (presumably Colombia) could beat Goliath (presumably America) in a conflict.

   “Stupefied, the interviewer asked Petro to clarify that his goal was not actually to oust Trump. His goal was negotiation, right? But Petro replied that Trump indeed had to leave, preferably by choice. ‘That’d be easier,’ he said. ‘If not, Trump should be ousted.’

   “The moment was rather stunning, not least because the Colombian president seemed so blasé. Historically, threats of regime change have flowed from North to South America, not the other way around.

   “Shortly after the Univision interview, the U.S. struck another drug boat—this time near Colombia’s Pacific coast, rather than Venezuela’s Caribbean one. More such strikes have followed. Suddenly, American war threats included not just one South American country but two: Trump is considering ‘future potential military operations against Venezuela and Colombia,’ Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told CBS the week before last.

   “All this may very possibly amount to nothing, at least where Colombia is concerned. But the exchange of insults between Trump and Petro has already strained an alliance that is more than two centuries old—one on which much of Colombia’s economy and America’s anti-drug efforts depend.”

   Read more: [https://theatln.tc/hjwKEpEC](https://theatln.tc/hjwKEpEC)

2. If a leader doubles the amount of land that can legally be used for coca production, that doesn’t think that there’s anything wrong with making and selling cocaine, and has a rise in cocaine production during their administration, it’s bound to piss people off.

3. Petro has a bunch of repeated allegations of substance abuse and a huge signal of that is causing diplomatic crisis for terminal 3am Twitter posting and increasingly incoherent rants.

4. Notable omissions include that 2026 that Petro is up for re-election in 2026. So to whatever extent he wants to be the face of a global anti-Trump movement, the more immediate pay-off is rallying his leftist base.

   And while there is no evidence that Petro is a drug trafficker he was a member of M-19, which worked directly for Pablo Escobar, including during the Palace of Justice Siege. So hand-waving away any cartel ties – for many in power in Colombia, really – is quite glib.

   Meanwhile, there is significant evidence that Petro is a *drug addict*, including his former finance minister publicly [calling him out as drug addict](https://www.ft.com/content/63488516-45b9-47a8-876c-94ed9e9062a1). And two years prior to that, the Miami Herald detailed how [he missed over 100 meetings without explanation in his first year](https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/andres-oppenheimer/article278773139.html), including events with Lula.

   Put this together, and it explains far better why Petro’s recent behavior. And if you go back to earlier in the year, it might explain why Petro got in a 3 AM twitter spat with Trump that did nothing to help Colombia; and which he had to climb down from anyway.

   Perhaps the story here is that we have entered the age where two world leaders that are well-known abusers of stimulants can rant at each other via tweets while they wait to come down from their high.

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