Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro and his US counterpart Donald Trump spoke on the phone ahead of a planned meeting with Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez, the President’s Office said Thursday.
In a post on social media platform X, the President’s Office said the two leaders “discussed the economic reactivation on the border [with Venezuela] and other matter of bilateral interest” like “energy issues, hydrocarbons, security, the eradication of illicit crops and the joint fight against drug trafficking.”
Trump allegedly apologized “for some prior inconvenience related to an invitation to Miami” where the US president met with political allies from Latin America to discuss a regional approach to drug trafficking.
Petro and other leftist leaders were not invited to the so-called “Shield of the Americas” summit.
“At the end of the call, President Trump wished President Petro success in his meeting with Venezuela” that was scheduled for Friday, but canceled immediately after the phone call.
Before the US president, Petro talked with his Brazilian counterpart Luis Inacio Lula about regional integration and the threat of the far-right to democracies in Latin America.
According to Brazilian media, Lula expressed his concern about Trump’s counternarcotics policy in Latin America, which includes the designation of organized crime groups as foreign terrorist organizations.
Petro has been a consistent critic of hardline counternarcotics policies and has urged the United States to make an effort to curb consumption of illicit drugs.
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