On Sunday evening, US President Donald Trump declared that he will halt all payments to Colombia and increase tariffs on the South American country.
Trump referred to Colombia's president, Gustavo Petro, as a "madman," claiming that the nation has turned into a drug producing factory and that he is doing nothing to curb production.
"They are a drug manufacturing machine, Colombia, and we're not going to be part of it," Trump stated in an interview with reporters. As a result, we will stop paying them any money. It has nothing to do with them ceasing to produce drugs, although they have.
"You also gaze onto the fields. The fields are overflowing with drugs, which are refined to create massive amounts of cocaine, which are then shipped all over the world and destroy families. No, things are out of control in Colombia.
The worst president they have ever had is currently in office. He's a crazy person with numerous mental health issues," he continued.
In response to a question concerning Lindsey Graham's assertion that the United States will impose tariffs on Colombia in the coming days, Trump stated that he had seen his remark and that it was "correct." He also stated that he will make an announcement on Monday.
Tensions between Washington and one of its closest Latin American allies are heightened by the action.
Trump called Petro "an illegal drug leader" who is "low rated and very unpopular" in a social media post. Petro needs to "close up" his drug enterprises, the Republican president said, "or the United States will close them up for him, and it won't be done nicely."
According to the AP news agency, Petro, who is active on social media, denied Trump's charges and defended his initiatives to fight drugs in Colombia, the country that exports the most cocaine worldwide.
"It is not drug trafficking to try to bring about peace in Colombia," Petro stated. He called himself "the main enemy" of narcotics in his nation, implied that Trump was being misled by his advisors, and charged that Trump was "rude and ignorant toward Colombia."
Trump's remarks were described as a "direct threat to national sovereignty by proposing an illegal intervention in Colombian territory" by the Colombian Foreign Ministry.
Given that the United States has already stepped up pressure on neighboring Venezuela and its leader, Nicolás Maduro, Trump's most recent comments against Petro raise the prospect of a wider conflict in Latin America.
For what the government has called a "armed conflict" with drug cartels, American drones, fighter jets, and naval vessels are stationed in the area. Additionally, Trump approved secret operations within Venezuela.
Colombia is the region's major beneficiary of U.S. aid and a longstanding ally, unlike Venezuela. However, the United Nations reports that coca cultivation hit a record high last year, and there has been a resurgence of violence in rural areas where the government fought guerrillas for years before striking a peace agreement ten years ago.
Although Washington at the time waived sanctions that would have resulted in funding cuts, the Trump administration accused Colombia in September of not cooperating in the drug battle. According to U.S. records, Colombia received an estimated Rs 1,909 crore in the U.S. budget year that ended on September 30, which is less than the Rs 5,810 crore it received in previous years.
This year, Petro, the first left-leaning president of Colombia, has been at odds with Trump on several occasions. Trump threatened tariffs after Petro first turned down US military flights of deported migrants. When Petro addressed the UN General Assembly in New York, the State Department announced that it would cancel his visa because he instructed American soldiers to defy Trump's orders.
