Colombia’s ex-guerrilla President Gustavo Petro is relishing a fight with Trump

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has suggested that President Trump is a slave trader and compared him to Hitler. Most recently, Petro has taken aim at the Trump administration’s targeting of boats allegedly ferrying drugs.

Colombia recalled its ambassador to the US amid these rising tensions. Petro accused President Trump of murdering a Colombian fisherman in one of those strikes. Trump called Petro an “illegal drug dealer.”

Former Colombian President Ivan Duque has speculated that Petro wants to use his tension with President Trump in order to influence the election that Colombia will have in 2026.

Duque also suggested that Petro is trying to use any excuse he can to dismantle the bilateral relationship between the US and Colombia. In response to Petro’s attacks, President Trump has threatened to cut US funding to Colombia.

In a social media post, Trump referred to Petro as “an illegal drug leader” who is “low rated and very unpopular.” The President warned that Petro “better close up” drug operations “or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.”

Trump’s threat to cut off funding would cause Colombia to lose its largest provider of economic and military assistance in the fight against drug trafficking, including resources for the eradication of illicit crops such as coca and opium poppies, which are used to produce cocaine and heroin. Funds total about $450 million annually, although Trump has not specified which items he would cut.

Colombia is no match for the United States power wise, but a spat with another country is not something Trump would like to engage in, if it can be avoided.