Trump to meet with Colombian President Gustavo Petro at White House Tuesday
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is expected to welcome Colombian President Gustavo Petro to the White House on Tuesday in the first meeting between two leaders who have feuded on and off over the past year.
The meeting will also be Trump’s first meeting with a South American head of state since the United States captured former President Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela a month ago.
The bilateral meeting is expected to include discussion of topics relating to Venezuela, including its border with Colombia, oil and energy, and guarantees of independence in Colombia’s upcoming presidential elections, four people familiar with the matter, including former Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo, told NBC News.
Trump told reporters Monday afternoon that he and Petro would talk about narcotics, “because huge amounts of drugs are coming out of his country.”
Trump added that he expects the meeting with Petro, who is term-limited and is due to leave office in August, to be “good,” saying Petro “has been very nice over the last couple of months.”
“He was certainly critical before that, but somehow after the Venezuelan raid he became very nice. He changed his attitude a lot,” Trump said.
Petro, a former Marxist revolutionary, has often drawn Trump’s ire, publicly disagreeing with him over the capture of Maduro, U.S. strikes on suspected drug boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean, and expulsions of Colombians from the United States.
Petro said Maduro’s capture was a violation of the region’s sovereignty and called the operation a kidnapping. In response, Trump threatened Petro repeatedly, saying a U.S. military operation in Colombia “sounds good to him” and calling Petro a “sick man” who should “watch his a–.”
Trump’s harsh comments after Maduro’s capture sparked fear and anger in Colombia and propelled nationwide anti-American protests in support of Petro.
Last week, in a free speech at a hospital in Colombia, Petro called on the United States to send Maduro back to Venezuela to stand trial. A day later, Petro softened his stance, saying in a speech in Panama that he was not defending Maduro.
Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio told a news conference Monday that the Colombian side was feeling “positive” heading into the meeting. Some former officials, however, expressed apprehension during the meeting, citing the unpredictable and fiery nature of Trump and Petro.
Some members of Congress have sought to repair what has usually been a strong alliance between the United States and Colombia. Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, helped facilitate a telephone conversation between Petro and Trump in late January, a diplomatic source in Washington told NBC News. That call, which both leaders described in positive terms, prompted Trump to invite Petro to the White House.
But before that, Trump sanctioned Petro, his family and one of his cabinet members in October over allegations of involvement in the global drug trade. Petro has strongly denied any involvement and vowed to fight the sweeping sanctions in US courts.
The sanctions came shortly after Senator Bernie Moreno, Republican of Ohio who was born in Colombia and has become a key voice influencing US policy towards the country, encouraged Trump to take a targeted approach with Petro. Moreno brought a document that included what appeared to be an artificial intelligence-generated image of Petro and Maduro in orange prison jumpsuits to a White House lunch with Republican senators. After a photo of White House deputy chief of staff James Blair holding the image was posted on the White House website, Petro recalled the Colombian ambassador to the United States.
Moreno, who met with Colombian politicians in the days before Trump’s meeting with Petro, is expected to participate in the discussion, a source close to the meeting said. Moreno’s office did not respond to a request for comment about the meeting.
Kevin Whitaker, a former U.S. ambassador to Colombia under Trump and former President Barack Obama, said “a critical part” of the meeting “will be whether the press is there.”
“Petro, certainly, but absolutely, President Trump stands in front of the camera and sees it as an opportunity to highlight his broader view of the world,” Whitaker said.
For now, no part of Tuesday’s meeting will be open to the media, according to the White House.
The outcome of the meeting, Whitaker said, will depend in part on whether Petro “is willing to make offers.”
“In the context of the national security strategy laid out by the Trump administration in early December, the hemisphere is ours,” Whitaker said. “Petro would do well to understand Trump’s point of view on this.”
