People in Cúcuta, Colombia, sing the national anthem during a demonstration against the U.S. attack on Venezuela, on Wednesday. The protest was one of many that took place across the country.Yader Guzman/The Globe and Mail
Colombian President Gustavo Petro galvanized an outpouring of anti-American sentiment Wednesday, even as he spoke directly to Donald Trump after weeks of sharp exchanges.
It was the first call between the two men since Mr. Trump returned to the White House.
The two men offered muted praise for each other as the U.S. continued a diplomatic effort across Latin America to blunt an outcry against the White House-ordered attack on Venezuela and the forcible removal of its leader, Nicolas Maduro.
“Trump is not stupid. He may be other things, but he’s not stupid,” Mr. Petro told a crowd in Bogota Wednesday, following a call with his U.S. counterpart that lasted more than an hour. He said he had also recently spoken with Delcy Rodríguez, the de facto Venezuelan leader, and wants to position Colombia as an intermediary for that country’s future.
“I invited her to Colombia. We want to establish trilateral dialogue and hopefully a global one, to stabilize Venezuelan society.”
Mr. Trump posted to social media that the two men had agreed to meet in the White House “in the near future.” Mr. Petro, he said, had spoken about “the situation of drugs and other disagreements that we have had. I appreciated his call and tone.”
Supporters of Colombian President Gustavo Petro protest what they say is foreign interference in the country's affairs.
Yader Guzman
As they spoke, thousands took to the streets across Colombia in rallies organized by Mr. Petro that brought forth a fiery defence of national sovereignty and expressions of loyalty for the current government. It was a sign of how Saturday’s early morning U.S. attack on Venezuela is being harnessed by some leaders throughout Latin America, who have found new opportunity to seize historical resentments for electoral gain.
In Cúcuta, a border city and important crossroads with Venezuela, labour leaders, former guerrillas and supporters of Mr. Petro marched to a central plaza with shouts of “Yankees, go away!” On the streets, chants of ”we don’t want to be an American colony” mixed with cries of “Petro, friend, the people are with you.” Polling in December showed Mr. Petro, whose term ends in August, had grown deeply unpopular, with an approval rating that had fallen to 37 per cent.
It wasn’t clear what message was being sent by those who took to the streets in what amounted, in Cúcuta at least, to a small demonstration that critics dismissed as political theatre.
But Mr. Petro has been a gleeful antagonist of Mr. Trump, and his party, Historic Pact, has positioned itself to benefit from the American President’s recent threats of military action against the country.
Emiro Ropero, centre, a former commander with the armed militant group FARC, who went by the alias Rubén Zamora, marches in demonstrations in Cúcuta.Yader Guzman/The Globe and Mail
Mr. Trump “has become a pirate of the Caribbean,” said Emiro Ropero, a former commander with the armed militant group FARC who participated in talks that led to a peace deal in 2016. He went by the alias Rubén Zamora before laying down arms.
“He is stealing Venezuela’s oil and has also become a threat to global stability,” Mr. Ropero added.
Mr. Petro is a former guerrilla fighter who became the first leftist president of Colombia in 2022. He called for rallies in cities across the country as a day of national mobilization to “defend sovereignty” after days of sharp verbal sparring with Mr. Trump.
On Sunday, the U.S. President called Mr. Petro “a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States. And he’s not going to be doing it very long.”
Mr. Trump also said military action against Colombia “sounds good to me.”
Mr. Petro has responded with a flurry of social media messages, promising to once again take up arms if Colombia is attacked.
Colombia is among a group of countries in the region that have strongly condemned the U.S. Earlier this week, leaders in Brazil, Chile Mexico and Uruguay joined it in a statement saying U.S. ”actions constitute a dangerous precedent for peace, regional security and pose a risk to the civil population.”
On Wednesday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her country has now “become an important supplier” of crude oil to Cuba, as the U.S. blocks ships carrying Venezuelan oil, which had traditionally supplied most of that country’s crude.
She did not, however, specify what had changed. “No more oil is being sent than has been sent historically,” she said.
Elsewhere in the region, the U.S. has sought to bolster support among right-wing governments. Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week spoke with Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa and Argentina’s Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno, thanking both for their support.
In Chile, the conservative Independent Democratic Union party on Wednesday proposed legislation to bar entry to sanctioned members of the Venezuelan regime.
Chilean Congressman Jorge Alessandri warned that Venezuela’s inner circle will seek to spirit money out of their country, and “will want to flee to avoid being caught by the United States.”
In Colombia, meanwhile, Mr. Petro was considerably more restrained on Wednesday than in recent weeks. Rather than insult Mr. Trump, he told those gathered at the rally he had called in Bogota: “If they touch Petro, they touch Colombia. Colombia will respond.”
It wasn’t clear what message was being sent by those who gathered to hear him speak.
Laura Naranjo, an advisor to the director of Democratic Centre, the far-right party of former president Álvaro Uribe, dismissed Wednesday’s gatherings as “absurd.” She faulted Mr. Petro for spending his time defending Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro while security problems at home mount and the economy “has gone to ruin.”
“Petro is doing these mobilizations because we are a few metres from from the presidential election,” she said.
Many Colombians support the removal of Mr. Maduro, “because Venezuela deserves to be free,” she said.
Supporters of Mr. Petro, however, said people in Colombia are responding to an American leadership that has openly embraced a return to the Monroe Doctrine, and the imposition of U.S. demands on countries throughout the hemisphere.
“What is being generated is an anti-imperialist movement at an international level,” said Alirio Uribe, a Congressional representative who is a member of Mr. Petro’s party.
The marches on Wednesday, he said, form part of a broader “mobilization demanding that the sovereignty of countries be respected.”