Petro asked Trump to re-establish direct communication between Washington and Bogota

Bogotá.- The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, said this Wednesday that in the phone call he had this afternoon with his counterpart from the U.S., Donald Trump, he asked him to re-establish communications between both Governments, through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the State Department, interrupted by the constant episodes of crisis in the bilateral relationship.

"Today we spoke on the phone for the first time since (Trump) is president," said Petro in a speech given before a crowd in Plaza de Bolívar, in downtown Bogotá, in a mobilization called by his Government "in defense of sovereignty."

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According to Petro, in the call with Trump, "which lasted about an hour or more", he made "a request: that direct communications between foreign ministries and presidents be re-established". "If there is no dialogue, there is war. The history of Colombia has taught us this," Petro stated in his speech, in which he lamented "the lack of communication with the Trump government" since it began its second presidential term in January 2025. The Colombian president added that, in contrast, with Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden (2021-2025), "there were never any problems" and spoke with him "four times". This request comes after Trump threatened Colombia with military operations similar to those he carried out against Venezuela on January 3, which ended with the capture of Nicolás Maduro and which Petro has strongly criticized.

A Year of Crisis

The first crisis between the Trump and Petro governments occurred on January 26th, after the Colombian president did not allow the entry of two planes with citizens deported from the US, alleging that they were not receiving "dignified" treatment. Trump then ordered to impose 25% tariffs on all Colombian products, and the crisis was contained that same day, but the relationship between the two governments did not normalize. That incident was followed by others due to Petro's accusations of an alleged conspiracy supported by Republican politicians to remove him from power and the Colombian president's support for the Palestinian cause. In September, the United States removed Colombia from the list of countries that have done a good job of combating drug trafficking, then canceled the visa of the Colombian president, and last October included him on the so-called Clinton List for alleged links to drug trafficking. Despite the fact that the Colombian chancellor, Rosa Villavicencio, and Petro himself have met on some occasions with the head of the US mission in Colombia, John McNamara, there is no direct dialogue between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia and the US Department of State, headed by Marco Rubio. A few months ago, in a televised cabinet meeting, Petro complained about the lack of communication between his Foreign Ministry and the State Department.