PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump said Sunday he would slash U.S. funding to Colombia because the country’s leader “does nothing to stop” drug production.
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.”
The post, which came while Trump was at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, is the latest sign of friction between the United States and one of its closest allies in Latin America. In September, the Republican 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 U.N. 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.
Chris Megerian, The Associated Press
