US President Donald Trump has called Colombian President Gustavo Petro an 'illegal drug lord' and said the United States would end major payments and subsidies to the South American country, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
“The purpose of this drug production is to sell huge quantities in the United States and sow death, destruction and chaos“, he said in a post on the social platform Truth Social.
There has been no comment from the Colombian side so far.
Relations between Bogota and Washington have soured since Trump returned to the White House. Last month, the United States revoked Petro's visa after he joined a pro-Palestinian demonstration in New York and called on US soldiers not to obey Trump's orders.
Last year, Petro promised to "tame" Colombia's coca-growing regions with massive social and military intervention, but the strategy has had little success.
In September, Trump named countries such as Afghanistan, Bolivia, Burma, Colombia and Venezuela among those the United States believes have clearly failed to comply with anti-drug agreements over the past year.
He accused Colombia's political leadership of failing to fulfill its obligations and of patronizing drug production.
"Petro is an illegal drug lord who strongly encourages mass drug production," Trump said, adding that U.S. payments and subsidies to Colombia are a theft of American taxpayer money.
"As of today, these payments or any other form of subsidy payments will no longer be made," he wrote in bold. letters. It was not clear exactly what Trump meant.