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President Donald Trump on Sunday said he will halt financial aid and subsidies to Colombia, citing the South American country’s failure to curb its growing cocaine production.
Trump called Colombian President Gustavo Petro “an illegal drug leader” and accused him of “strongly encouraging the massive production of narcotics” across the country, adding that it “has become the biggest business’ in Colombia.
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“Petro does nothing to stop it,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that U.S. payments and subsides aimed at helping Colombia address drug production are “nothing more than a long-term rip-off of America.”
“AS OF TODAY, THESE PAYMENTS, OR ANY OTHER FORM OF PAYMENT, OR SUBSIDIES, WILL NO LONGER BE MADE TO COLUMBIA,” Trump added.
Trump warned that Colombian drugs are “causing death, destruction and havoc” as his administration steps up efforts to tighten the border and fight the nation’s ongoing drug epidemic.
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Trump also warned that Petro “better close up these killing fields immediately, or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.”
The Colombian Embassy in Washington, D.C., did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment, and the White House did not respond to a separate request for further comment.
Last month, the Trump administration revoked Petro’s U.S. visa following “reckless and incendiary actions” in New York City.
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Petro has also strongly criticized the Trump administration for authorizing deadly strikes on boats in the Caribbean that U.S. officials said were transporting narcotics.
“Criminal proceedings must be opened against those officials who are from the U.S. even if it includes the highest-ranking official who gave the order: President Trump,” Petro said during his speech at the U.N. General Assembly.
He added that the boat’s passengers were not members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, as the Trump administration claimed after the first attack.
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