After months of trading insults – from “sick man” and “drug trafficking leader” on one side, to “accomplice to genocide” with a “senile brain” on the other – the first meeting between Donald Trump and Gustavo Petro ended with pleasantries, autographs and a Maga cap,
The Guardian reports.
The Colombian president was received by his US counterpart for a closed-door meeting at the White House, with no press access.
The encounter had been highly anticipated after months of exchanges between the two in which Trump went as far as to suggest Petro could meet the same fate as the former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, captured after the US assault a month ago.
Although journalists were not allowed to watch or photograph the meeting, as has been the case with visits by other heads of state, both governments posted images on social media, and Petro went further.
The leftwing Colombian leader shared a photo of a signed copy of Trump’s 1987 book The Art of the Deal, apparently poking fun at reports before the meeting that said he did not speak English and would need an interpreter.
“What was Trump trying to tell me in this dedication? I don’t understand much English,” Petro wrote, alongside a photo showing “You are great” written above Trump’s autograph.
On the same social media platform, X, where months earlier he had warned Trump to “do not wake the jaguar” after the US leader suggested Colombia could be targeted by a US attack, Petro also posted a printed photo he got from Trump, bearing the handwritten message: “Gustavo, a great honour. I love Colombia.”
Colombia’s first leftwing president – who will not run in the May elections because the constitution allows only a single term – was also photographed leaving the White House wearing a red Maga (Make America Great Again) cap.
At a press conference in the Oval Office shortly after the meeting, Trump was asked whether they had reached an agreement on drug trafficking – Colombia’s position as the world’s largest cocaine producer had been a constant feature of his criticism of Petro – and said they had.
“We got along very well. He and I weren’t exactly the best of friends, but I wasn’t insulted [with Petro’s comments] because I never met him. I didn’t know him at all, and we got along very well,” said the US president.
In an interview with Colombia’s Radio Caracol, Petro praised Trump. “The truth is, I like frank gringos. People who say what they feel. We are undoubtedly very different, but frankness comes first,” he said.
Trump added that the meeting had been “very productive” and “fantastic”, and that they would continue working “on other issues, including sanctions.”
