Trump Meets Colombia’s Petro After Cartel Clash

By Staff, Agencies

US President Donald Trump met Colombian President Gustavo Petro at the White House on Tuesday, weeks after a public spat over drug trafficking and a US military raid in Venezuela.

The US revoked Petro’s visa last year after he condemned Trump’s Caribbean strikes as “barbaric” and criticized deportations, prompting Trump to brand him a “drug trafficker.” Both later softened their tone ahead of Petro’s Washington visit.

“He and I weren’t exactly the best of friends, but I wasn’t insulted because I never met him. I didn’t know him at all. And we got along very well,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. He added that the leaders discussed sanctions and were working to combat drug cartels, without elaborating.

Petro said the talks were “very positive” despite their differences. “We may be very different from a civilizational or historical point of view, but what we share is a love of freedom. And that’s where the conversation began, with the idea that a pact for freedom could be made,” he said, as cited by the BBC.

The Colombian presidential office said Petro provided Trump with “information and names of criminal structures” linked to the drug trade and presented his country as “a strategic ally” in the fight against cartels.

Petro also spoke about the “historic results” his government has achieved in seizing drugs from criminal groups.

Petro, who had condemned the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by US commandos in early January, urged Trump to normalize relations with Caracas, according to his office.

Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges when they were brought before a New York judge last month.