Far-left President of Colombia Gustavo Petro apologized to President Donald Trump in a letter for falsely accusing Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others of “plotting” to oust him, Colombian outlets reported on Monday.
According to Colombian outlets, Petro wrote in his apology letter that he thinks “it’s time to turn the page on misunderstandings and look ahead.”
Petro, a proud former member of the Marxist M19 terrorist group and Colombia’s first leftist president ever, caused yet another diplomatic impasse with the Trump administration in June after he publicly claimed, without evidence, that Sec. Rubio was involved with an unnamed Colombian “far-right leader” in a coup plan to oust him from power. Petro’s baseless accusations were immediately supported by his neighbor, socialist dictador Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, who disparaged Rubio.
On Thursday, Sec. Rubio announced that Chargé d’Affaires a.i. John T. McNamara, the top diplomat at the U.S. embassy in Colombia, had been urgently recalled following the “baseless and reprehensible statements from senior Colombian government officials.” Petro reciprocated the announcement by recalling the Colombian ambassador to the United States Daniel García-Peña.
According to several Latin American outlets, the State Department began revoking U.S. visas of all current members of the Colombian government who were at any point involved with the Marxist M19 terrorist organization. In April, Petro claimed that his U.S. visa had been revoked, but asserted that he was not bothered by it because he had “already seen Donald Duck several times.”
Colombian outlets reported on Monday that roughly two weeks before both countries recalled their ambassadors, Petro sent a diplomatic letter to President Trump apologizing for his accusations against Sec. Rubio. Copies of the letter, dated June 23, were published by local outlets.
In the missive, Petro reportedly “clarifies” that any statement he made that “may have been interpreted as a direct accusation of involvement in an alleged coup d’état in Colombia was not intended to single out anyone personally or to question the role of the United States without foundation.”
“My concern has always been to warn about destabilizing dynamics affecting our region, often driven by diverse actors with conflicting interests. In this context, I recognize that some of my words may have been perceived as unnecessarily harsh,” the letter reportedly read. “In the interest of dialogue, I want to say that my intention is not to close doors, but to open paths for honest and respectful conversation between our countries.”
Petro reportedly continued in the letter by expressing concerns over “public insinuations” that “violent rhetoric” from his presidency led to the early June assassination attempt against conservative Senator Miguel Uribe. At the time. Sec. Rubio, in a social media post, condemned the incident and wrote that the assassination attempt was “the result of the violent leftist rhetoric coming from the highest levels of the Colombian government.”
Petro reportedly concluded the letter by claiming that he believes it is time to “turn the page on misunderstandings and look ahead,” listing “hemispheric challenges” such as “the climate crisis, inequality, migration, transnational violence” and proposing a joint summit between the U.S. and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), a regional bloc presently led by Petro.
“I am convinced that the American people, like the Colombian people, aspire to a relationship based on mutual respect, sovereignty, and justice. Let us celebrate our differences within the framework of understanding, and build on our commonalities to usher in a new era of cooperation,” Petro reportedly wrote.
“This is not a call for confrontation, but for shared responsibility. History is watching us, and the harshest judgment will be that of the future. May we rise to the occasion,” he continued.
Asked by reporters on Monday if President Trump saw Petro’s apology letter and comments on the matter, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that she was not sure that President Trump had seen the letter, but that she could check with him and the National Security Council.
The incident marks the second time Petro caused a diplomatic impasse between the United States and Colombia since the start of President Trump’s second term. A few days after Trump took office, Petro abruptly refused to accept a U.S. deportation flight of Colombians, rejecting it in a late-night social media post on the grounds that the United States treats “Colombian migrants as criminals.”
President Trump responded to Petro’s actions with a barrage of retaliatory measures, including a 25-percent tariff and visa sanctions on Colombian government officials. After initially responding with a long, unhinged Twitter rant, Petro ultimately caved and “agreed to all” of President Trump’s terms.
The new impasse between the United States and Colombia occurs at a time when Petro’s government is facing a new internal crisis after Foreign Minister Laura Sarabia resigned on Thursday — the same day both countries recalled their ambassadors. Sarabia’s departure marks the third foreign minister to depart from the position during Petro’s administration. His first foreign minister, Alvaro Leyva, accused Petro of suffering from drug addiction in two explosive letters published in April and May.
Sarabia, a controversial figure and a member of Petro’s inner circle, took office in late January amid Petro’s deportation flight diplomatic crisis. She reportedly confirmed the existence of Petro’s letter to Trump, stressing that the missive was “preventive in nature” and was sent prior to any decision that could aggravate diplomatic distancing or the recalling of ambassadors.
The now-former foreign minister told the Colombian magazine Cambio on Sunday that her departure is due to differences with the Colombian government over a dispute pertaining to the printing of national passports that started long before Sarabia took office.
Petro’s administration is planning to not extend an existing contract with private firm Thomas Greg & Sons, which has printed Colombian national passports for roughly two decades, and instead have them produced by the state-run National Printing Office with technical advisory from Portugal. The proposal is spearheaded by Colombian Chief of Staff Alfredo Saade.
Sarabia claimed to Cambio that Petro is being “deceived” by Saade and accused the chief of staff of usurping her functions by blocking an extension of the contract with the passport firm and “sabotaging” the national passport appointment system to extend the existing stock long enough to make the switch. Sarabia warned that the actions “will condemn Colombia to being left without passports.”
Colombian outlets reported on Monday that after Sarabia’s statements, desperate citizens flooded the foreign minister’s passport offices hoping to book an appointment after the online appointment system showed no availability throughout July.
According to the Colombian magazine Semana, Sarabia was replaced by acting Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio — described by the magazine as an admirer of Venezuela’s late socialist dictator Hugo Chávez who defended dictator Nicolás Maduro’s fraudulent elections and who “does not speak or write English well.”
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here
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