Trump says US will cut aid to Colombia over drugs

President Trump said the US would stop aid payments to Colombia because of the country’s drug production. He said Sunday he would slash U.S. funding to Colombia because the country’s leader “does nothing to stop” drug production, in what is the latest sign of friction between Washington and one of its closest allies in Latin America.

In a social media post, Trump referred to Colombian President Gustavo Petro as “an illegal drug dealer” who is “low rated and very unpopular.” He 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, while at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, wrote on his Truth Social platform that Petro is “strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields” across Colombia, which the Republican president spelled as Columbia. “Petro does nothing to stop it, despite large scale payments and subsidies from the USA that are nothing more than a long term rip off of America,” Trump said.

“AS OF TODAY, THESE PAYMENTS, OR ANY OTHER FORM OF PAYMENT, OR SUBSIDIES, WILL NO LONGER BE MADE TO COLUMBIA,” Trump said. He also said Petro had “a fresh mouth toward America.”

Earlier Sunday, Petro accused the U.S. government of assassination and demanded answers after the latest American strike in Caribbean waters. The U.S. said on Saturday it was repatriating to Colombia and Ecuador two survivors from that attack, the sixth since early September. At least 29 people have been killed in strikes that the U.S. has said are targeting alleged drug traffickers.

In September, the Trump administration accused Colombia of failing to cooperate in the drug war, although at the time Washington issued a waiver of sanctions that would have triggered aid cuts. Colombia is the world’s largest exporter of cocaine, and the cultivation of the critical ingredient of coca leaves reached an all-time high last year, according to the United Nations.

More recently, the State Department said it would revoke Petro’s visa while he was in New York for the UN General Assembly because of his participation in a protest where he called on American soldiers to stop following Trump’s commands. “I ask all the soldiers of the United States’ army, don’t point your rifles against humanity” and “disobey the orders of Trump,” Petro said.

“The United States has invaded our national territory, fired a missile to kill a humble fisherman, and destroyed his family, his children. This is Bolívar’s homeland, and they are murdering his children with bombs,” Petro wrote.

Relations with Colombia are already strained, but this could push the US and Colombia into open hostility.