Petro confirms that the meeting with Trump at the White House will be next February 3rd

Bogotá. – The Colombian President, Gustavo Petro, confirmed this Wednesday that the meeting with his American counterpart, Donald Trump, at the White House will be held on February 3rd, after the phone call they had last week and eased tensions between Washington and Bogotá. “The Council of Ministers has an issue (regarding drug trafficking), which is what has intensified the debate between the United States and Colombia – between the governments, between the presidents – which has ended with a possibility of a meeting that will be on February 3, we will see the results of that meeting, which is decisive,” Petro expressed.

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When addressing his ministers, the president recalled that he will present Trump with the data on drug trafficking from his Government so that “he really knows what has happened in the fight we have waged in this Government against narcotics”.

Precisely the Colombian Defense Minister, Pedro Sánchez Suárez, met this Wednesday in Washington with senior U.S. officials to address the joint fight against drug trafficking, which he considered the “common enemy” for both countries, as a prelude to the meeting between the presidents. “We had a very open dialogue, as has always happened. What we are doing in Colombia is fighting a common enemy that we have with the United States, drug trafficking. The challenge is how we increase efficiency to eliminate this poison,” Sánchez said at a press conference with the Colombian ambassador to the US, Daniel García Peña. As part of his agenda in Washington, the minister has so far met with members of Congress, such as Republican Senator Bill Hagerty, or with the chairman of the Armed Services Committee in the House of Representatives, Republican Mike Rogers. He plans to converse with members of the War Department and other authorities of the Trump Administration. Sánchez focused on Bogotá’s efforts to eradicate drug trafficking, and cited the seizure of more than 2,840 tons of cocaine.

Diplomatic Tensions

The U.S. president announced last week that he will meet with Petro at the White House the first week of February and stated that it was “a great honor” to speak with his Colombian counterpart, after months of disagreements between the two leaders. The Republican had accused Petro of participating in cocaine trafficking and also suggested that the possibility of the U.S. sending a military mission to Colombia similar to the one that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on January 3rd sounded “good” to him.