Far-left Colombian President Gustavo Petro met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday after Trump’s repeated demands for Colombia to stop the flow of cocaine into the United States.
According to the White House foreign press pool, Petro arrived at the White House at 10:53 a.m. and an hour later the U.S. press pool reported the meeting was ongoing. It is the first time Trump and Petro have met face-to-face.
The U.S. delegation included Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH), who was born in Colombia. The Colombian delegation, headed by Petro, also featured Minister of Foreign Relations Yolanda Villavicencio, Minister of Defense Pedro Arnulfo Sánchez Suárez, and Ambassador to the United States Daniel García-Peña Jaramillo, per the pool.
The meeting comes after Trump issued stern warnings to Petro regarding Colombian-produced cocaine entering America, especially after the United States captured former Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro in Operation Absolute Resolve on January 3.
“They make cocaine in Colombia, and he’s no friend of the United States. He’s very bad, very bad guy, and he’s got to watch his ass, because he makes cocaine and they send it into the United States of America from Colombia,” Trump said in December.
As Breitbart News noted, Trump again cautioned Petro to “watch his ass” during a press conference hours after Maduro’s capture:
Asked about Petro’s comment that he was “not concerned about anything happening to him in the aftermath of this operation,” Trump responded: “He has cocaine mills. He has factories where he makes cocaine. And yeah, I think I stick by my first statement. He’s making cocaine and they’re sending it into the United States, so he does have to watch his ass.”
After again putting Petro on notice on January 4, Trump spoke with him on January 7 and invited him to the White House. Both their tones changed following the call.
“It was a Great Honor to speak with the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who called to explain the situation of drugs and other disagreements that we have had,” Trump announced. “I appreciated his call and tone, and look forward to meeting him in the near future.”
Petro scrapped a speech he was going to give at an anti-Trump rally in Colombia after the talk, stating the speech he initially planned to give “was pretty hard.”
“Trump is not dumb. We can say other things, but he is not dumb,” he added.
Petro made odd remarks in a speech last week, claiming he “does very good things in bed.” He also told supporters he would ask Trump, who does not drink alcohol, if he would like “wine or whiskey” during their meeting.
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