Colombian president and Trump put aside insults for amicable White House meeting

After months of trading insults – from “sick man” and “drug trafficking leader” on one side, to “accomplice to genocide” with a “senile brain” on the other – the first meeting between Donald Trump and Gustavo Petro ended with pleasantries, autographs and a Maga cap.The Colombian president was received by his US counterpart for a closed-door meeting at the White House, with no press access.The encounter had been highly anticipated after months of exchanges between the two in which Trump went as far as to suggest Petro could meet the same fate as the former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, captured after the US assault a month ago.Although journalists were not allowed to watch or photograph the meeting, as has been the case with visits by other heads of state, both governments posted images on social media, and Petro went further.The leftwing Colombian leader shared a photo of a signed copy of Trump’s 1987 book The Art of the Deal, apparently poking fun at reports before the meeting that said he did not speak English and would need an interpreter.“What was Trump trying to tell me in this dedication? I don’t understand much English,” Petro wrote, alongside a photo showing “You are great” written above Trump’s autograph.On the same social media platform, X, where months earlier he had warned Trump to “do not wake the jaguar” after the US leader suggested Colombia could be targeted by a US attack, Petro also posted a printed photo he got from Trump, bearing the handwritten message: “Gustavo, a great honour. I love Colombia.”Colombia’s first leftwing president – who will not run in the May elections because the constitution allows only a single term – was also photographed leaving the White House wearing a red Maga (Make America Great Again) cap.At a press conference in the Oval Office shortly after the meeting, Trump was asked whether they had reached an agreement on drug trafficking – Colombia’s position as the world’s largest cocaine producer had been a constant feature of his criticism of Petro – and said they had.“We got along very well. He and I weren’t exactly the best of friends, but I wasn’t insulted [with Petro’s comments] because I never met him. I didn’t know him at all, and we got along very well,” said the US president.In an interview with Colombia’s Radio Caracol, Petro praised Trump. “The truth is, I like frank gringos. People who say what they feel. We are undoubtedly very different, but frankness comes first,” he said.Trump added that the meeting had been “very productive” and “fantastic”, and that they would continue working “on other issues, including sanctions”.Despite the cordial tone, there was no immediate announcement about Petro’s removal from the so-called “Clinton list”. In October, Petro, his wife, his son and his interior minister were included on the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (Ofac) list over what the US Treasury department said was “their involvement in the global illicit drug trade”.Petro said he had not discussed the matter with Trump, but added: “If there were legal evidence, I would not be speaking here; I am on the Ofac list because of what I said in New York.”The Colombian president was referring to last year’s UN summit in New York, when he called on American soldiers to disobey any illegal orders from their commanders during a pro-Palestinian rally. After that, his visa was revoked and he was granted a special visa by Washington specifically for this trip.At a press conference at the Colombian embassy in Washington, Petro said his government was the one that had “seized more thousands of tonnes of cocaine than at any point in the history of humanity”.He said he told Trump that “we have to go after the capos”, the criminal bosses, who do not live in Colombia but “in Dubai, in Madrid, in Miami. US agencies know who they are. I gave their names to President Trump,” said Petro.Before the meeting, the Colombian government extradited to the US Andrés Felipe Marín Silva, known as “Pipe Tuluá”, identified as the leader of a drug gang. The defence minister, Pedro Sánchez, said the move showed that “Colombia is a reliable partner and will continue working with the US with respect, cooperation and concrete actions, protecting citizens and suffocating those who live off crime,” said Sánchez.