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Gustavo Petro

Gustavo Petro
The latest news and top stories on Gustavo Petro, Colombia's President since 2022. He previously served as Mayor of Bogotá and as a Senator.
President Gustavo Petro in the cockpit of one of the 12 Black Hawk helicopters donated by the US government in 2022. Photo: Colombian Presidency via AFP
Americas and the Caribbean

Colombia’s president says he escaped assassination attempt while in helicopter

Gustavo Petro says his helicopter had to evade people who ‘were going to shoot’ at it, forcing him to fly over open sea for hours.

Donald Trump

Trump and Colombia’s Petro appear to bury hatchet after months of tensions

Donald Trump

Trump says Colombia’s Petro to visit US, in U-turn from threats to diplomacy

US-Venezuela conflict

Trump invites Colombia’s president to White House after threat of military strike

Invitation comes days after Trump accused Colombia’s Gustavo Petro of ‘making cocaine’ and warning of US intervention.

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US President Donald Trump has abruptly changed his tone about his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro. Photo: AFP
Americas and the Caribbean

Maduro open to talks with US on drugs and oil, but silent on CIA strike

Venezuela’s leader sidesteps questions about a reported US land attack while offering to talk ‘seriously’ about cooperation.

Americas and the Caribbean

CIA behind drone strike on ‘big facility’ in Venezuela: sources

Sources divulge details of a US strike mentioned by Trump, as Colombia’s president says US bombed a suspected cocaine factory.

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Donald Trump

Trump says any country trafficking drugs into US could be attacked

In response to the threat, Colombia’s Petro says his nation destroys drug labs ‘without missiles’ and warns Trump not to ‘awake the Jaguar’.

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Packages of seized cocaine lined up in Panama City, Panama in November. A tugboat carrying 13,508kg of cocaine, was intercepted in Panamanian Pacific waters as it sailed to North America from Colombia, according to Panamanian authorities. Photo: EPA
China-Latin America relations

Xi Jinping pledges support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro

Chinese president urges respect for Venezuela’s sovereignty, warns against foreign interference as US ramps up regional military activity.

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Venezuela

Several international airlines cancel flights to Venezuela after US warning

Flights cancelled following an FAA warning of a ‘potential risk’ amid a major buildup of American forces in the region.

China-Latin America relations

Colombia pushes for talks – to include China – over US military action in region

Petro steps up rhetoric as biggest US aircraft carrier backs an anti-drug operation near Venezuela; the latest strikes face legal questions.

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Colombian President Gustavo Petro has called for a high-level security meeting with the United States, China and regional partners to discuss the growing tension in the region. Photo: AFP
Americas and the Caribbean

7 children killed in air strike against Colombia rebel group, officials say

The minors were forcibly recruited and used as human shields by the Farc-EMC group, ombudswoman Iris Marin says.

A police officer stands in front of a building damaged in an attack blamed by the military on Farc dissidents in Mondomo, Colombia, on Saturday. Photo: AP
Americas and the Caribbean

US strikes on alleged drug boats in eastern Pacific kill 6

US defence secretary says two boats were destroyed as calls mounted for investigations into the US strikes.

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Americas and the Caribbean

Rio raids, Venezuela crisis threaten to overshadow Brazil’s UN climate summit

Deadly police operations at home and regional fears of US military intervention abroad divert President Lula’s focus from one of his signature global issues.

Americas and the Caribbean

Trump says not considering strikes within Venezuela, despite earlier threats

The US president had previously said ‘the land is going to be next’, after deadly attacks on alleged drug-carrying boats in the area.

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A man wears an anti-Trump shirt during a rally against foreign interference in Caracas, Venezuela, on Thursday. Photo: AP
Americas and the Caribbean

US sanctions Colombia president over drugs, amid escalating row with Trump

Gustavo Petro has accused the US president of carrying out ‘extrajudicial executions’ by striking alleged drug-trafficking vessels.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro speaks during a press conference in Bogota on Thursday. Photo: Reuters
Donald Trump

‘We’re just going to kill them’: Trump vows to escalate drug war to land targets

US president’s stark warning of moving beyond sea strikes comes amid a massive US military build-up in the Caribbean and tensions with Venezuela.

United States

Colombia’s Petro accuses Trump of ‘extrajudicial executions’ in boat strikes

Fuelling a spat with Trump, Colombia’s president said the US military’s anti-drug campaign, which has killed dozens, violates international law.

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Americas and the Caribbean

US widens campaign on suspected drug boats with first lethal strikes in Pacific

Two new strikes, apparently carried out in international waters, come amid a war of words between Donald Trump and Colombia’s president.

This screen grab from a video posted by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth shows what Hegseth says is a vessel moments before it is hit in a US strike. Photo: US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth via X
Americas and the Caribbean

Air strikes and insults: Trump’s feud with Colombia threatens key alliance

With Colombia recalling its ambassador, the Trump-Petro feud marks a new low in relations between Bogota and Washington.

Americas and the Caribbean

Colombia recalls ambassador to US as Trump-Petro feud intensifies

Trump’s rhetoric and tariff threats mark a new low in US-Colombia relations, which the US leader alleges are complicit in the drug trade.

Colombia

Trump threatens Colombia with tariffs and slashes aid, calls Petro a ‘drug leader’

Trump warned that the US would ‘close up’ Colombia’s drug operations, just as Petro condemned a US strike as ‘murder’.

US President Donald Trump referred to Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro as ‘an illegal drug leader’ who is ‘low rated and very unpopular’. Photo: AFP
United States

US strike in Caribbean kills Colombian fisherman, stoking sovereignty row

President Gustavo Petro demanded answers from Washington over the September attack that left Alejandro Carranza dead.

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Colombian President Gustavo Petro speaks during a public event in Bogota on Friday. Photo: EPA
Americas and the Caribbean

US strikes on boats in Caribbean fuel speculation over missing fishermen

Caribbean tensions rise as Venezuela accuses the US of killing innocent people in anti-drug operations.

Americas and the Caribbean

US strike on boat in Caribbean may have killed Colombians, Petro says

Colombian president writes that a ‘new front in the war has opened’ in the Caribbean, prompting the White House to demand a public retraction.

Israel-Gaza war

Israel blocks all Gaza flotilla ships, vows to deport activists

Organisers said the interception was ‘illegal’, claiming the ships were in international waters while carrying vital aid to the enclave.

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and Brazilian activist Thiago Avila sit in a vessel after Israel intercepted some of the vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla. Photo: Israel Foreign Ministry/Reuters
Colombia

Colombia’s Petro fires own Beijing embassy team for ‘sabotaging’ China outreach

Purge follows Bogota’s pivot to China and President Petro’s open tensions with Donald Trump over immigration, Gaza.

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Colombian President Gustavo Petro addressing a pro-Palestinian rally outside the UN headquarters in New York on Friday. Photo: AFP
Americas and the Caribbean

Colombia unveils first combat rifle amid diplomatic rift with US, Israel

Colombian President Petro has stopped buying arms from the US and is looking to replace weapons once supplied by former military ally Israel.

Americas and the Caribbean

US revokes Colombian president’s visa after he calls soldiers to ‘disobey Trump’

The US State Department called Gustavo Petro’s actions at a pro-Palestinian street protest in New York ‘reckless and incendiary’.

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