Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Trump says he’s cutting off all subsidies to Colombia, accuses Prez Gustavo Petro of being ‘illegal drug leader’
NY Post ^ | 10/19/2025 | Ryan King

Posted on 10/19/2025 9:31:09 AM PDT by DFG

President Trump accused Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro of being an “illegal drug leader” and announced that his administration is cutting off all subsidies to the Latin American country.

Trump further trashed his Colombian counterpart as a “very unpopular leader” and warned Petro to close up alleged drug fields, or else “the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.”

“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 raged on Truth Social.

“It 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.”

The US sent over $207 million worth of foreign aid to Colombia this year, according to foreignassistance.gov.

Trump’s announcement comes a day after Petro accused the US of “murder” over a Sept. 15 attack that the US president described at the time as killing “confirmed narcoterrorists from Venezuela” who were in international waters at the time.

“US government officials have committed a murder and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters,” Petro wrote on X Saturday, per a translation. “The Colombian boat was adrift and had its distress signal up due to an engine failure.”

“We await explanations from the US government.”

Colombia’s president claimed that the boat was used for fishing and not the transportation of drugs. Petro has been in power since 2022 and is a member of the left-wing Humane Colombia party.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: colombia; columbia; medellincartel2; randpauldonors

1 posted on 10/19/2025 9:31:09 AM PDT by DFG
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: DFG

oh no! politicians hardest hit


2 posted on 10/19/2025 9:35:07 AM PDT by WeaslesRippedMyFlesh
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: WeaslesRippedMyFlesh

Curve ball.

Strike two.


3 posted on 10/19/2025 9:41:29 AM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: DFG
Trump says he’s cutting off all subsidies to Colombia...

Excellent!

Columbia can make their own way without American Taxpayer subsidy ...

or not, as they choose.

Columbia CAN choose to get rid of Petro.

4 posted on 10/19/2025 9:49:15 AM PDT by Navy Patriot (President Trump Decisively Won, Celebrate Recivilization!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DFG

“President Trump accused”
“Trump further trashed”
“Trump raged”

Good reporting, NYP!


5 posted on 10/19/2025 9:49:56 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ProtectOurFreedom

Kinda reminds me of President Dutarte in the Philippines without the killings-not yet.


6 posted on 10/19/2025 9:52:39 AM PDT by DIRTYSECRET
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: DFG

“Trump says he’s cutting off all subsidies to Colombia...”

The big question is why are we subsidizing Columbia in the first place?”


7 posted on 10/19/2025 9:56:03 AM PDT by Labyrinthos
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DFG

Cue District Judge Iwannabebig who will issue an order forcing President Trump to restore full funding and to make the US purchase twice as many drugs as it did last year.


8 posted on 10/19/2025 9:58:25 AM PDT by The Louiswu (USA FIRST...USA FOREVER)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Labyrinthos

Also, how much have we spent on Columbia so far, and, what have we gotten for that money?

I’m guessing it hasn’t been worth it, whatever it is.


9 posted on 10/19/2025 10:06:23 AM PDT by coloradan (They're not the mainstream media, they're the gaslight media. It's what they do. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Labyrinthos

Probably cause Rand and his merry band of Libertarians want people stoned? Libertarians say drugs are harmless. 🤷‍♂️


10 posted on 10/19/2025 10:18:15 AM PDT by Hyman Roth
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Labyrinthos

B4 the Colombians elected a freaking leftist, their gov’t cooperated with us to try to quell the cartels, worked on “carrot and stick” of poor farmers to encourage them to grow legal crops instead of illegal, and so on. Supporting Colombia was correctly judged to be a better choice than us trying to go in there and do the job ourselves. The former was only partially effective, but, then again, our efforts to stamp out, say, meth, here at home, are no better than “partially effective”, as well.

Now Colombia has a gov’t who has turned it into another damn Narco-State.* That rather changes the calculus...

*I’ll admit that only recently did I become aware of how far Colombia had sunk, under these new creeps. :-(


11 posted on 10/19/2025 10:34:17 AM PDT by Paul R. (Old Viking saying: "Never be more than 3 steps away from your weapon ... or a Uriah Heep song!" ;-))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: DFG

This guy, Petro, is a real piece of work. He was a guerrilla with M-19, which murdered lots of politicians and which worked with the Colombian cartels.

From Wiki: “ Since taking office, Petro and his allies have been embroiled in several scandals.[138] In 2025, Petro sacked his whole government following his previous choice to appoint the scandal-ridden political operator Armando Benedetti as chief of staff, while promoting Laura Sarabia, a 30-year-old confidante, to foreign minister despite her lack of foreign policy experience. Both were embroiled in a campaign finance scandal.[139] Several factors such as heightened crime,[138] his stalled reforms in the legislative branch, failing to pass labor and health reforms,[138] as well as his frequent use of presidential decrees, being the first president to use it for a budget in 2024 since 1904,[138] his disagreements with the Office of the Attorney General of Colombia and his supporters’ violent attack against the Supreme Court,[140] the arrest of his son Nicolas in a money laundering scandal involving campaign financing,[141][142] and the scandal involving his ministers,[143] have contributed to the fall of Petro’s public support.[144]

Since taking office, Petro and his allies have been embroiled in several scandals.[138] In 2025, Petro sacked his whole government following his previous choice to appoint the scandal-ridden political operator Armando Benedetti as chief of staff, while promoting Laura Sarabia, a 30-year-old confidante, to foreign minister despite her lack of foreign policy experience. Both were embroiled in a campaign finance scandal.[139] Several factors such as heightened crime,[138] his stalled reforms in the legislative branch, failing to pass labor and health reforms,[138] as well as his frequent use of presidential decrees, being the first president to use it for a budget in 2024 since 1904,[138] his disagreements with the Office of the Attorney General of Colombia and his supporters’ violent attack against the Supreme Court,[140] the arrest of his son Nicolas in a money laundering scandal involving campaign financing,[141][142] and the scandal involving his ministers,[143] have contributed to the fall of Petro’s public support.[144]“

Add to that his drunken, coked-up behavior (see his recent UN speech), and it’s clear this train wreck shouldn’t get any US money.


12 posted on 10/19/2025 10:52:02 AM PDT by VanShuyten ("...that all the donkeys were dead. I know nothing as to the fate of the less valuable animals.”)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Labyrinthos

“why are we subsidizing Columbia in the first place?”

No kidding. That was the very first thing that crossed my mind.


13 posted on 10/19/2025 10:56:28 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: DFG

It should be Colombia, not Columbia.


14 posted on 10/19/2025 11:00:22 AM PDT by DennisR (Look around - God gives countless clues that He does, indeed, exist.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DennisR

Colombia is the correct spelling for the South America country. The NY Post is correct. DJT mistakenly spelled the country “Columbia”.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/colombia/article56269340.html


15 posted on 10/19/2025 11:23:20 AM PDT by DFG
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: DFG

“The US sent over $207 million worth of foreign aid to Colombia this year”

WHY? We shouldn’t be sending foreign aid money to any country, even if we were running a budget surplus rather than being heavily in debt.


16 posted on 10/19/2025 11:43:22 AM PDT by SharpRightTurn (“Giving money & power to government is like giving whiskey & car keys to teenage boys” P.J. O'Rourke)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DFG

Money saved money earned.


17 posted on 10/19/2025 1:18:05 PM PDT by Vaduz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Labyrinthos

“The big question is why are we subsidizing Columbia in the first place?”

Probably to shut down Narco trafficking.


18 posted on 10/19/2025 1:22:47 PM PDT by DAC21
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson