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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.
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
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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China-Latin America relations

Xi Jinping pledges support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro

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Venezuela

Several international airlines cancel flights to Venezuela after US warning

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.

videocam
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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.

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.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visiting a settlement in Belem ahead of the Cop30 UN Climate Summit. Photo: AP
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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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.

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.

Men in Caracas hold weapons during a rally of the Bolivarian National Militia in support of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, amid rising tensions with the US. Photo: Reuters
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.

This screen grab from a video posted by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth this week shows a vessel moments before it is hit in a US strike. Photo: US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth via X
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.

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.

Colombian President, Gustavo Petro (left), has called US President Trump’s comments about him being an “illegal drug leader” offensive. Photo: AFP
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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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.

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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.

A vessel burns in this still image taken from a video released on September 15, 2025. Photo: US President Donald Trump’s TRUTH Social account via AFP
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.

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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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.

An Indomil engineer shows a prototype of a new rifle designed and manufactured in Colombia. Photo: AFP
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’.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro addresses pro-Palestinian demonstrators outside the UN headquarters in New York on Friday. Photo: Reuters
UAE

Letters | A win-win model for Hong Kong and Dubai

Readers discuss synergy between two financial hubs, national mourning in Colombia, and the human cost of conflict.

Americas and the Caribbean

Colombian presidential hopeful dies 2 months after shooting

Miguel Uribe, from the right-wing opposition, was shot in Bogotá on June 7 while giving a speech at a rally, in an attack that shocked the nation.

Sudan

Sudan claims downing of Emirati plane carrying Colombian mercenaries

The attack, which left at least 40 dead, is the latest in a series of accusations by Sudan’s military that the UAE is arming its paramilitary rivals.

Sudan’s war, now in its third year, has killed tens of thousands. File photo: AFP
Americas and the Caribbean

Colombia police capture alleged mastermind in attack on presidential candidate

The conservative senator is still in intensive care after he was struck from behind while giving a speech in a Bogota park.

Police officers stand next to Elder Jose Arteaga Hernandez in Bogota on Saturday after he was detained. Photo: Colombian Police via Reuters
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