After threatening to invade Colombia, Trump retreats and establishes dialogue with Petro

In a scenario of extreme geopolitical tension following US military action in Venezuela, Colombia reaffirmed its sovereignty through popular mobilization and direct diplomacy. On Wednesday (7), Presidents Gustavo Petro and Donald Trump had a telephone conversation lasting more than an hour, which represented a tactical retreat by Washington after explicit threats of intervention. It was the first official dialogue between heads of state since the beginning of Trump’s term.

The escalation of aggression

The crisis escalated on Monday (5), when Trump, on board the Air Force Onelaunched personal attacks against the Colombian leader. Without evidence, he accused Petro of being a “sick man who likes to make cocaine and sell it to the United States”. When asked by journalists about a possible military operation in Colombia, similar to the kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro in Caracas, Trump was categorical: “That sounds good to me.” And he threatened: “Colombia is very sick too and he [Petro] You won’t be doing this for long.”

Bogotá’s response was based on resistance. Petro denounced that Trump was deceived by “Colombian mobsters and Miami elites” and “intelligence colonels” who passed on false information. In a tone of national defense, Petro declared that “every Colombian soldier received this order: any commander of the security forces who prefers the U.S. [em detrimento da soberania nacional] he must be removed from office.” The president even evoked his history of struggle, stating that he would “take up arms again” if necessary to defend the country from a “spectacle of death” like the one that occurred in the Venezuelan capital.

The strength of the streets in Bogotá: “We don’t kneel”

The diplomatic turn did not occur in a vacuum. On Wednesday (7), thousands of Colombians occupied Plaza de Bolívar, chanting “sovereignty”. On the stage, Petro gave a historic speech, raising the tone against international extortion: “They told me that now I would understand why they put me on the US sanctions list. I never gave in to mafia proposals. For me, this type of attitude is nothing more than the typical expression of the Colombian mafia sleeping in Miami with its far-right allies in Florida, trying to bring a president to his knees. We do not kneel. We will not take a step back,” said Petro to applause.

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The president directly questioned Trump’s lack of knowledge about the Andean reality: “Mr. Trump has no idea who I am, what I think, or the history of this country. He doesn’t even know clearly where Colombia is… He attacks the leader who most opposed drug trafficking, thirsty for political power and blood.”

Sovereignty against “Colonial Control”

Petro was emphatic in classifying Washington’s foreign policy as a form of domination that ignores Colombia’s social advances. He denounced that the supposed military aid is, in fact, a guardianship mechanism: “The excuse for the fight against drugs… is, in reality, a program of colonial control over Latin American countries, starting with Colombia. They dominate us, but we swore in our history to be free and independent. Today we are faced with mafia extortion from a foreign government to decide whether we will accept another king again or whether we will say no.. The king is not sovereign; the people are the sovereign.”

Trump’s retreat

After the show of force on the streets, Trump changed his tone on social media, calling the call a “great honor” and praising Petro’s “respectful tone.” Trump invited the Colombian president to a meeting at the White House to discuss anti-drug policies and a “clean energy alliance.”

Petro, in turn, included the stabilization of Venezuela on the agenda, proposing a tripartite dialogue (Colombia-Venezuela-USA). The objective is to avoid perpetuating US military “supervision” over neighboring oil. At the end of the day, Petro sent a message of relief to the nation that, now, Colombians can “sleep peacefully”. And he concluded by stating that “the size of rudeness inversely measures the size of the brain. To insults, we respond with the dignity of those who take care of life.”