U.S. President Donald Trump claimed his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, is a ‘thug and a bad guy’ and accused him of producing ‘a lot of drugs,’ days after alleging he was a ‘drug trafficking leader.’
In response, Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, said he would defend himself against the ‘slander’ in U.S. courts. ‘I will always stand against genocides and killings by power in the Caribbean.’
In another episode of the diplomatic conflict, Trump said Petro ‘is a thug and a bad guy. He’s a guy who produces a lot of drugs… He’s done a lot of damage to his country. They’re doing very badly.’
The U.S. leader referred to the Colombian days after announcing the end of financial aid to Colombia due to its inaction in the fight against drug trafficking and labeling Petro a ‘drug trafficking leader.’
‘They have cocaine factories. They grow all kinds of garbage, and the bad drugs that enter the United States usually pass through Mexico, and they’d better be careful and take serious measures against him and his country,’ Trump added.
The Republican claimed what Petro ‘has done to his country is a deadly trap.’
Petro, for his part, said, ‘I will defend myself legally against the slander they’ve launched at me with U.S. lawyers in U.S. courts.’
He also stated he will always stand ‘against genocides (like the one in Gaza) and killings by power in the Caribbean.’
Petro has criticized the military operations the U.S. conducts in the Caribbean, off the Venezuelan coast, and has called the deaths of some 27 crew members from at least seven boats and a semi-submersible attacked by the Pentagon in that area ‘murders’ because they allegedly transported drugs.
But those attacks have now extended to the Pacific, off Colombia’s coast, where a boat with two crew members was attacked on Tuesday, killing both in the operation.
Petro said that despite the ‘slander,’ when U.S. society requires Colombia’s help to fight drug trafficking, it will have it.
‘We will fight drug traffickers with the states that want our help,’ the president affirmed.
He also referenced comments by Human Rights Watch’s Americas director, Juanita Goebertus, who argued that U.S. attacks on boats in the Caribbean—and now the Pacific—’constitute extrajudicial executions.’
Image: Opinion
