President Gustavo Petro warned his US counterpart, Donald Trump, on Monday that he is"not the king of Colombia" and that his government will not make concessions, but rather"demand," amid the escalation of diplomatic tensions between the two countries over the fight against drugs.
"Trump said: 'Colombia is out of control.' Of course it is out of control, out of his control. In a democracy, a government is under the control of the people, not Trump. He is not a king in Colombia, we do not accept kings here, period", Petro said in an interview with journalist Daniel Coronell of Univision.
(You can read: ).
The president said, at another time, that"in the 21st century some believe they can become kings and viceroys, and in republics that is not possible", and added:"Here, kings have their heads cut off if they arrive with the attitude of a king".
Last Saturday, thousands of people took to the streets in the United States to protest in the largest demonstration since Trump returned to power last January, under the slogan 'No Kings,' alluding to the perception that the president acts like a monarch and recalling that the United States was founded in 1776 on the rejection of the absolute power of a sovereign. Petro met this Monday in Bogotá with the Colombian ambassador to Washington, Daniel García-Peña, whom he called for consultations to analyze the new diplomatic crisis between the two countries. As he announced in the interview, he also plans to meet with the US chargé d'affaires in Colombia, John McNamara, who will bring him"official reasons." (Read more: ).The head of state made it clear, however, that he is not willing to make concessions:"I am not going to concede, I am going to demand. But if Colombia has already conceded everything, it does not have to concede more," he stated, adding that he is following the example of the
presidents of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum
, who have remained firm without breaking bridges with the US.
"You stand firm and upright, you don't kneel. You should never kneel," Petro declared. The latest diplomatic clash between Colombia and the US erupted on Sunday when Trump announced the end of financial aid to the South American country for its alleged inaction in the fight against drugs, accused Petro of being a"drug trafficking leader" and warned that he planned to impose commercial retaliation. Petro, who has intensified his criticism of Trump since Trump ordered a military deployment in the Caribbean in August under the pretext of combating drug trafficking, called the White House resident"rude and ignorant with Colombia" and his government announced that it will go to "all international bodies" to defend the national sovereignty that it considers "threatened"
.
(Also: Dollar in Colombia rebounded, after new diplomatic tensions with the United States).
President @PetroGustavo explained in an interview with Daniel Coronell that his position regarding the United States government has been clear and consistent:
— Presidencia Colombia 🇨🇴 (@infopresidencia) October 20, 2025
“I have spoken directly with former President Biden and, through envoys, with Trump. The attitudes have been different…
"Mr. Trump is enraged that I don't support the Americans with the Colombian Army to invade Venezuela. No, sir, what stupid Colombian would think of helping to invade where his cousins, his nephews, his Colombian people are, of which there are four million? So that they can be killed like in Gaza," said the president on Monday.
These crossings occur a month after the United States removed Colombia, the world's largest producer of cocaine, from the list of countries that combat drug trafficking, and after the Trump Administration revoked Petro's visa for asking US soldiers from New York to disobey the Republican's orders, in a harangue in favor of Palestine.
