The decision follows Trump’s suspension of U.S. aid to Colombia.

On Monday, Colombian Foreign Affairs Minister Rosa Villavicencio recalled the country’s ambassador to the U.S., Daniel Garcia-Peña, for consultations amid a new crisis in bilateral relations sparked by President Gustavo Petro’s criticism of the sinking of boats allegedly loaded with drugs in the Caribbean Sea.

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In a statement, Colombia’s Foreign Ministry said the Petro administration will announce decisions regarding the suspension of financial aid from Washington, as declared by U.S. President Donald Trump.

The recall of the ambassador comes at a time of heightened bilateral tension due to differences between Petro and Trump over U.S. anti-drug policy—particularly Washington’s military disengagement in the Caribbean, near Venezuela, as part of a purported campaign against international drug trafficking.

As part of that operation, at least seven vessels have been sunk, killing around 30 people, some of whom were Colombian, Petro revealed, accusing the United States of “murder” over the death of a fisherman.

On Sunday, Trump announced the end of financial aid to Colombia over what he called its failure to act in the fight against drugs and accused Petro of being “a drug trafficking leader who encourages the mass production of drugs, both in large and small fields, throughout Colombia.”

Through social media, Petro responded that Trump “is misled” in his opinion of him and advised the U.S. president to “read Colombia carefully and determine where the narcos are and where the democrats are.”

“Mr. Trump, Colombia has never been rude to the US; on the contrary, it has deeply loved its culture. But you are rude and ignorant toward Colombia. Read ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude,’ as your chargé d’affaires in Colombia did, and he assured you that you would learn something about loneliness,” Petro posted on the X platform.

“I don’t do business, like you. I am a socialist, I believe in aid, the common good, and in the common goods of humanity, the greatest of which is life, endangered by your oil. If I’m not a businessman, then much less am I a drug trafficker. There is no greed in my heart.”

“I could never understand greed. A mobster is a human being who embodies the best of capitalism: greed. I am the opposite, a lover of life and therefore a millennial warrior of life. Greed flees us because life is more powerful,” the Colombian president concluded.

Trump later confirmed statements made by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who hours earlier said on X that the White House is preparing to impose tariffs on Colombia—an announcement that has caused concern among productive sectors in the Andean country, whose main market is the United States.

In April, when Trump unveiled his global tariff plan, Colombia was placed among the sanctioned countries, with the lowest rate of 10%. This is the second time this semester that Colombia has recalled its ambassador in Washington.

On July 3, Bogota also summoned Garcia-Peña in response to a similar decision by the United States to call in its envoy to Colombia, John T. McNamara, following allegations of supposed U.S. support for a plot to remove Petro from the presidency.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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