Colombia has recalled its ambassador to the United States “for consultations,” the Colombian Embassy in Washington introduced Monday, the most recent transfer in a diplomatic spat over the movement of unlawful medicine and US assaults on alleged drug-smuggling boats and threats to punish the South American nation economically.
“The Ambassador of Colombia to the United States, Daniel García-Peña, has been recalled to Bogotá for consultations by President Gustavo Petro Urrego,” Foreign Minister Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio Mapy stated in a press release posted on X.
“The Government of Colombia will announce the corresponding decisions in due course,” the minister added.
This is the second time the Colombian ambassador to Washington has been recalled this 12 months. In July, the Colombian authorities summoned García-Peña after the United States did the identical with its chief of mission in Bogotá, John T. McNamara, following Petro’s allegation that the US supported a plot to take away him from energy. The White House denounced the declare as baseless.
Monday’s transfer comes a day after US President Donald Trump accused Petro of being “an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs.” Trump additionally threatened to stop “large scale payments and subsidies” to Colombia, which he sees as largely having failed to fight drug cartels producing unlawful narcotics and delivery them to the US.
Trump later confirmed Sunday that his administration plans to elevate tariffs on Colombia on Monday.
Tensions between Petro and Trump have been rising after the US deployed warships within the Caribbean and launched missiles to destroy vessels it claimed had been trafficking medicine.
Seven vessels have now been attacked as a part of these operations, leaving some 30 folks lifeless. Petro claimed that a few of the folks on board had been Colombians and accused the United States of “murder.” Meanwhile, a Colombian citizen aboard the most recent vessel attacked was returned alive to his nation this weekend.