Colombian ambassador to US recalled to Bogotá for consultations, embassy says

By Billy Stockwell, Sol Amaya, Michael Rios, CNN

(CNN) — Colombia has recalled its ambassador to the United States “for consultations,” the Colombian Embassy in Washington announced Monday, the latest move in a diplomatic spat over the flow of illegal drugs and US attacks 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 said in a statement 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 year. In July, the Colombian government summoned García-Peña after the United States did the same with its chief of mission in Bogotá, John T. McNamara, following Petro’s allegation that the US supported a plot to remove him from power. The White House denounced the claim as baseless.

Monday’s move comes a day after US President Donald Trump accused Petro of being “an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs.” Trump also threatened to cease “large scale payments and subsidies” to Colombia, which he sees as largely having failed to combat drug cartels producing illegal narcotics and shipping them to the US.

Trump later confirmed Sunday that his administration plans to raise tariffs on Colombia on Monday.

Tensions between Petro and Trump have been growing after the US deployed warships in the Caribbean and launched missiles to destroy vessels it claimed were trafficking drugs.

Seven vessels have now been attacked as part of these operations, leaving some 30 people dead. Petro claimed that some of the people on board were Colombians and accused the United States of “murder.” Meanwhile, a Colombian citizen aboard the latest vessel attacked was returned alive to his country this weekend.

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