Trump cuts US aid to Colombia, calls President a ‘drug dealer’
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The news: US President Donald Trump said that Colombia will no longer receive US aid in a social media post on Sunday and accused the country’s president, Gustavo Petro, of being an “illegal drug dealer.”
The context: In a Truth Social post shared by Trump, he wrote that drug trafficking “has become the biggest business in Columbia, 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.”
Trump misspelled the country’s name three times in the post.
“President Gustavo Petro, of Columbia, is an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields, all over Columbia,” Trump said.
“AS OF TODAY, THESE PAYMENTS, OR ANY OTHER FORM OF PAYMENT, OR SUBSIDIES, WILL NO LONGER BE MADE TO COLUMBIA,” Trump added.
In September, the US president “decertified” Colombia as a partner as he ramped up efforts to combat the drug trade, distancing the US from its former ally.
Colombia, which is a large recipient of US aid – having received around USD14 billion this century – now produces over six times as much cocaine as it did in 1993 and more than Peru and Bolivia combined.
On Saturday, the White House announced that two survivors of a US attack on a submarine that Trump had claimed was transporting illegal drugs in the Caribbean will be returned home to Colombia and Ecuador.
Note: The original Truth Social post which contained spelling errors was deleted from President Trump's account. A new post, with the spelling errors corrected was reposted from the President's Truth Social account.
The source: Trump Truth Social
