The president of the United States, Donald Trump, unleashed a new diplomatic crisis in the region this Sunday by accusing his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, of being “a drug trafficking leader” and announcing the immediate suspension of all financial aid to Colombia.
“Colombian President Gustavo Petro is a drug trafficking leader who encourages the massive production of drugs, both in large and small fields, throughout Colombia,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform..
“It has become by far the biggest business in Colombia, and Petro is doing nothing to stop it, despite large-scale payments and subsidies from the US, which are nothing more than a long-term scam. Starting today, these payments, or any other form of payment or subsidies, will no longer be made to Colombia.”
Trump threatened that if Petro doesn’t close “these death camps immediately,” the United States “will close them for him, and it won’t be nice.”
Colombia was one of the largest recipients of American aid in the hemisphere —around 413 million dollars that Washington channeled through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)—but that flow of money was disrupted this year due to the closure of USAID.
Reuters said it could not immediately determine which payments Trump was referring to.
Military escalation in the Caribbean
This Sunday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth confirmed through his account on X that last Friday a new “lethal kinetic attack against a ship affiliated with the National Liberation Army (ELN)” occurred, which he called a “terrorist organization” that operates in the “area of responsibility” of the Southern Command.
Hegseth stated that “the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was navigating a known drug trafficking route and was transporting substantial quantities of narcotics.”
The attack, he said, was carried out in international waters and confirmed that three people died aboard the bombed vessel, while “no American forces were injured.”
Hegseth compared drug cartels to Al Qaeda. “The US military will treat these organizations like the terrorists they are: they will be hunted down and annihilated, just like Al Qaeda.”
With this there are now at least seven bombings, since the beginning of September 2025, confirmed by the United States, and with an official toll of at least 30 dead.
Reactions from Colombia
The response of the Colombian government was immediate. Petro wrote in
The Minister of Defense, Pedro Sánchez, described as disrespectful to Colombia any statement that attacks the President of the Republic in the terms used by Trump, emphasizing that Petro was democratically elected. The official defended the country’s commitment to the fight against drugs.
The Attorney General, Gregorio Eljach, and the Ombudsman, Iris Marín, demanded evidence to support Trump’s accusations against a democratically elected president with no criminal record.
However, the Colombian opposition took advantage of the statements to attack the government. Senator María Fernanda Cabal of the Democratic Center blamed Petro for filling the country “with coca and illegal groups,” while presidential candidate Vicky Dávila accused the president of allowing the advance of drug trafficking.
Petro’s position regarding operations in the Caribbean
On Saturday, October 18, Petro warned about the possible consequences of US bombings in the Caribbean Sea, warning that these military actions could be directly affecting Colombian fishermen. The president pointed out that “the missiles are probably falling on Colombian boats and on fishermen.”
Petro criticized the United States Government in the midst of the growing tension with Venezuela, and although he clarified that he “does not recognize” the Government of Nicolás Maduro, he warned that he cannot agree with “violent actions” or with a possible US military intervention in the neighboring country.
From Puerto Asís, in the department of Putumayo, Petro warned about the dangers of considering a unilateral operation in Venezuela as a simple maneuver: “They believe that it is a little game, that an operation is going to come, they take Maduro and it’s over, as if nothing had happened.”
Petro assures that the US violated sovereignty of Colombian waters
Venezuela responds
Maduro denounced in a public event in Caracas what he described as “coups d’état orchestrated by the CIA” and rejected any attempt at foreign intervention in the region, expressing: “No to regime change… no to the coups d’état carried out by the CIA… Latin America does not want them, does not need them and repudiates them.”
The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry rejected Trump’s “warlike and extravagant” statements, considering them a “very serious violation of International Law and the Charter of the United Nations.”
The Venezuelan president signed a decree for the declaration of the state of external commotion, an emergency situation with exceptionalities, with a view to its entry into force in the event of external aggression.
A regional conflict with hemispheric consequences
The United States military deployment in the Caribbean includes at least eight warships, a nuclear submarine and approximately 4,500 soldiers, according to reports from international agencies. What is officially presented as a war against organized crime is already being interpreted in diplomatic corridors as a strategic confrontation against the Maduro government.
The tensions between Washington and Bogotá add to a relationship already deteriorated after the diplomatic crisis of January 2025, when Petro initially rejected a flight of deported Colombian citizens and Trump threatened to raise tariffs.
Last September, the United States removed Colombia from the list of anti-drug countries for having “manifestly failed” to comply with its obligations under international counternarcotics agreements, and the US government revoked Petro’s visa while he attended the UN General Assembly.
The current escalation raises questions about the future of relations between two countries that have been historical allies since Plan Colombia, and puts at risk the stability of a region already convulsed by political, economic and migration crises.
