Trump invites Colombian president to White House after threatening his country with military strike

""It was a Great Honor to speak with the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who called to explain the situation of drugs and other disagreements that we have had," Trump posted on his social media site. "I appreciated his call and tone, and look forward to meeting him in the near future." He wrote that the upcoming meeting would take place at the White House."

"That came mere days after Trump said in the wake of the U.S. operation to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro over the weekend that "Colombia is very sick too" and accused Petro of "making cocaine and selling it to the United States." In comments to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump added of Petro, "He's not going to be doing it very long, let me tell you." Asked whether U.S. intervention was possible, Trump responded, "Sounds good to me.""

""I talked about two things: Venezuela and the issue of drug trafficking," he told the crowd in downtown Bogota, where demonstrators had just minutes earlier chanted slogans against the United States at Petro's behest. Petro explained to the audience that Colombian politicians allegedly linked to narco-trafficking misled the U.S. president about Petro's record to turn Trump against him. "Those (people) are responsible for this crisis let's call it diplomatic for now, verbal for now that has erupted between the U.S. and Colombia," he said."

Donald Trump praised Colombian President Gustavo Petro after a phone call and said he invited Petro to the White House. Trump described the conversation as a great honor and said he appreciated Petro's call, tone, and looked forward to meeting. The shift followed Trump's recent accusations that Colombia was "very sick" and that Petro was "making cocaine and selling it to the United States," and his comments suggesting possible U.S. intervention. Petro said the leaders spoke for about an hour, focused on Venezuela and drug trafficking, and claimed Colombian politicians linked to narco-trafficking misled the U.S. president, creating a diplomatic verbal crisis.

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