"One month ago, a White House meeting between Donald Trump and his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, would have been unthinkable. The US raid on Caracas to capture the Venezuelan leader, Nicolas Maduro, brought already heated relations between them to a boil, with Trump warning the leftist Colombian leader could be next, claiming Petro was a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States."
"On the national front, problems of drug trafficking, regional security, trade and migration top the list. Petro's personal agenda includes giving Trump reassurances that he is, in fact, neither directly nor indirectly involved in his country's narco-trafficking as the US president has suggested publicly, without evidence. Even so, in October, the US slapped Petro, his wife and the interior minister, Armando Benedetti, with sanctions for what the treasury department claimed was their involvement in the global illicit drug trade."
A recent sequence of events moved US–Colombia relations from confrontation to an Oval Office meeting between Donald Trump and Gustavo Petro. A US raid on Caracas to capture Nicolas Maduro escalated tensions and prompted Trump to accuse Petro of ties to cocaine production and sales. Petro responded defiantly about renouncing arms but later engaged in a frenetic diplomatic phone call that led to a White House invitation. Analysts warn outcomes are uncertain given both presidents' temperaments. Petro faces domestic and international pressures: national priorities include drugs, security, trade and migration, while personal priorities involve clearing allegations of narco involvement amid US sanctions.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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