Colombia has recalled its ambassador to the United States following rising tensions after a U.S. military strike on a Colombian drug trafficking vessel on October 17, and President Trump’s remark referring to Colombian President Gustavo Petro as “an illegal drug leader.”
Columbia's Foreign Minister, Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio Mapy, announced the move on Monday.
Mapy wrote on X, "The ambassador of Colombia to the United States, Daniel García-Peña, has been recalled to Bogotá for consultations by President Gustavo Petro Urrego."
Statement from Foreign Minister Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio Mapy:
— Embassy of Colombia in the United States (@ColombiaEmbUSA) October 20, 2025
“The Ambassador of Colombia to the United States, Daniel García-Peña, has been recalled to Bogotá for consultations by President Gustavo Petro Urrego.
The Government of Colombia will announce the corresponding… https://t.co/7olkWFUSWV
The decision came only a day after President Trump called Petro "an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields, all over Colombia."
Trump wrote on Truth Social:
President Gustavo Petro, of Colombia, is an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields, all over Colombia. It has become the biggest business in Colombia, 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. AS OF TODAY, THESE PAYMENTS, OR ANY OTHER FORM OF PAYMENT, OR SUBSIDIES, WILL NO LONGER BE MADE TO COLOMBIA. The purpose of this drug production is the sale of massive amounts of product into the United States, causing death, destruction, and havoc. Petro, a low rated and very unpopular leader, with a fresh mouth toward America, better close up these killing fields immediately, or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President Donald J. Trump
The Columbian President, responded to President Trump's criticism on X, writing:
Mr. Trump, Colombia has never been rude to the USA; on the contrary, it has greatly admired its culture. But you are rude and ignorant toward Colombia. Read, as your chargé d'affaires in Colombia did, *One Hundred Years of Solitude*, and he assured you that you will learn something about solitude. I don't do business, like you do; I am a socialist, I believe in aid and the common good and in the common goods of humanity, the greatest of all: life, put in danger by your oil. If I am not a merchant, then much less a drug trafficker; in my heart there is no greed. I could never get along with greed. A mafioso is a human being who embodies the best of capitalism: greed, and I am the opposite, a lover of life and therefore a millennial warrior for life. Greed flees from us, because life is more powerful.
Señor Trump, jamás Colombia ha sido grosera con EEUU, al contrario, ha querido mucho su cultura.
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) October 19, 2025
Pero usted es grosero e ignorante con Colombia. Léase, como si lo hizo, su encargado de negocios en Colombia, Cien Años de Soledad, y le aseguró que algo aprenderá de la soledad.
Yo…
Petro also criticized the U.S. strike on a suspected drug-smuggling vessel from Columbia on Sunday, claiming the boat belonged to a "humble family," not to the leftist National Liberation Army rebel group. This was the seventh military strike on a suspected narco-terrorist vessel.