President Donald Trump just dropped a bombshell by accusing Colombia’s leader of running a narco-empire while slashing all U.S. financial support to the South American nation, as New York Post reports.
This dramatic move follows a heated clash with Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, intensified by military actions against suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and a deadly incident last month that Petro has called an outright violation of sovereignty.
Let’s rewind to the roots of this feud, which has been simmering with Trump’s ongoing campaign to choke off drug smuggling routes into the United States.
Over recent weeks, the U.S. has launched multiple military strikes in the Caribbean, targeting boats allegedly tied to drug networks from Venezuela and Colombia.
The latest operation, the sixth known strike, occurred on Thursday, leaving two survivors from Ecuador and Colombia who are set to be sent back to their home countries.
These actions aren’t random—they’re part of a hardline stance against the flow of illicit substances, a promise Trump has doubled down on with gusto.
On Sunday, Trump took the gloves off, publicly branding Petro as a key player in the drug trade on his Truth Social platform.
“President Gustavo Petro, of Columbia, is an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields, all over Columbia,” Trump declared on Truth Social, pulling no punches in his assessment of Colombia’s leadership.
That’s a serious charge, and it’s hard not to wonder if this rhetoric risks burning bridges with a nation that received over $207 million in U.S. aid this year alone, per foreignassistance.gov.
In the same breath, Trump announced a total cutoff of subsidies to Colombia, signaling that the U.S. won’t bankroll a country he believes is complicit in poisoning American streets.
“It has become the biggest business in Columbia, by far, and Petro does nothing to stop it despite large scale payments and subsidies from the USA that are nothing more than a long term rip off of America,” Trump added on Truth Social, framing this as a betrayal of U.S. generosity.
While conservatives might cheer this as a stand against enabling bad actors, one has to ask if this abrupt halt in funding could destabilize an already fragile relationship.
The timing of Trump’s statement is no coincidence—it came just a day after Petro accused the U.S. of overstepping with a deadly strike on September 15 in international waters.
Petro, who has led Colombia since 2022 as part of the left-leaning Humane Colombia party, insists the targeted boat was a fishing vessel in distress, not a drug runner, and has demanded answers from Washington.
Adding fuel to the fire, a recent CNN report, citing Pentagon sources, suggested that one of Trump’s Caribbean operations resulted in the deaths of Colombian nationals, raising questions about the precision and fallout of these high-stakes missions.
