Far-left President of Colombia Gustavo Petro on Tuesday called for his supporters to join him at an upcoming rally this week that he described as an act of defense against “a monster like Trump.”
Petro issued the call during a Tuesday evening meeting of his cabinet of ministers broadcast by the Colombian presidency. The upcoming pro-Petro and anti-Trump rally is scheduled to take place on Friday in Bogotá’s Bolívar Square, the capital city’s main square, named after Venezuelan founding father Simón Bolívar.
“That is why the people must take to the streets today, and that is why I invite you to join me at 4 o’clock on Friday, because it is in company that one defends oneself against a monster like Trump,” Petro said.
The rally comes amid rising diplomatic tensions between the United States and Colombia stemming from Petro’s numerous acts of animosity toward the Trump administration, which have resulted in Petro single-handedly straining Colombia’s more than 200-year-old friendly relations with the United States.
Although Petro has maintained a staunch animosity toward President Trump over the years, he intensified his stance against Trump in recent weeks, with Petro accusing Trump of “murder” through the United States’ ongoing military efforts to fight against drug cartels in Caribbean international waters. Petro also called for both the U.S. military to disobey Trump and for Trump’s prosecution over his alleged “accomplice” role in the “genocide” in Gaza.
The Colombian president also made the announcement hours after he publicly called for Trump’s removal at the tail end of a two-hour-long interview with Univisión President Daniel Coronell on Monday. Immediately after the meeting, Petro met with the head of the U.S. embassy in Bogotá, Chargé d’Affaires John McNamara. The Colombian Foreign Ministry described the meeting as the “first approach” toward solving the diplomatic impasse between the countries.
President Trump, members of his administration, and several U.S. congressmen such as Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) and Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) have fiercely criticized Petro for his anti-U.S. rhetoric and mishandling of Colombia’s decades-long fight against illegal drug production and trafficking.
On Sunday, President Trump, citing the surge in drug production in Colombia under Petro’s administration, accused Petro of being an “illegal drug leader” and announced that he would suspend all U.S. payments and subsidies to Colombia. Petro responded by calling Trump “rude and ignorant” in a lengthy social media rant, condemning Trump’s remarks as a “direct threat” to Colombian national sovereignty.
Moments before he announced the upcoming Friday rally, Petro – in a separate, nearly 3,000 word-long social media rant spread across several posts – accused President Trump and Sen. Moreno of allegedly wanting to stage a “coup” in Colombia and oust him.
“Because what I am demonstrating is that Colombia is the heart of the world. And aggression against Colombia is aggression against the heart of the world. And I call on the world to help us,” Petro said during the broadcast.
“Before, I called on the world to help Palestine. Now, to help us, because they want to attack us and they are mafiosos. And Trump is believing them,” he continued, and added that he “will leave it there because I have gone on too long, and we will continue talking about this issue later.
Sen. Moreno refuted the accusations as “100 percent false,” and stressed that the United States “wants the people of Colombia to have a free and fair election, as scheduled, without any influence from outside agitators or narco traffickers.”
“Not only do I invite all citizens, in this case those of Bogotá and Cundinamarca, to gather in Bolívar Square on Friday at 4 p.m. for what I hope will be a massive demonstration for sovereignty and dignity in Colombia,” Petro said.
“In response to the immense amount of slander that has been spread by both the president of the United States, Trump, as well as his closest friends, almost all of whom are located in the state of Florida, I have been debating for 25 years the Colombians’ involvement in drug trafficking in Colombia, and the root of the problem is not that Colombia’s anti-drug policy, which is anti-drug trafficking, not anti-drugs, has failed,” he continued.
The Colombian president, an outspoken advocate for the legalization of cocaine, asserted that “there is a difference between separating inert substances from the people who, out of greed, are really behind the business.”
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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