Diplomacy: new diplomatic weapon pass between Washington and Bogota

The United States and Colombia recalled their respective ambassadors for consultations on Thursday, a new stage in the deterioration of relations between the two historic allies against the background of an alleged plot against the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro.

The spokesperson for the State Department, Tammy Bruce, announced in a statement that the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, recalled “John T. McNamara, the acting manager of the United States Embassy in Colombia, in Washington for urgent consultations following unfounded and reprehensible statements from the highest levels of the Colombian government”.

In addition to the recall of the business manager, “the United States takes on other measures to clearly express its deep concern about the current state of our bilateral relations,” she added.

The reaction was not long in coming. Gustavo Petro announced in turn on X The recall of the Colombia ambassador to Washington, Daniel Garcia-Peña, for consultations.

The ambassador “must come and inform us of the evolution of the bilateral agenda to which I have been committed since the start of my government,” added Colombia’s first leftist president, in power since 2022.

The State Department did not specify which “unfounded declarations” had caused Washington’s anger. But the Colombian president accused the United States and “far-right people” of preparing a coup against him last June.

He had thus resumed his account an accusation made by his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro.

The Colombian prosecution opened an investigation this week on this alleged plot aimed at overthrowing Gustavo Petro with the help of Colombian and American politicians, following the publication by the Spanish daily “El Pais” of recordings involving the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alvaro Leyva.

“It is nothing more than a conspiracy (from Alvaro Leyva) with drug traffickers and the apparently Colombian and American far right,” said Gustavo Petro on Monday. He also said that a “leader” of this alleged conspiracy, which he did not identify, had spoke with Marco Rubio.

Thursday, 30 Colombian deputies asked the United States Congress to investigate Republican parliamentarians Mario Díaz-Balart, María Elvira Salazar and Carlos Giménez for “acts of interference”, accusing them of having “held meetings” with Alvaro Leyva.

On Thursday, the Colombian president, however, excluded that the American Secretary of State himself took part in the project to overthrow him. “I do not believe that a government which has Iran as enemy and ready -to -use nuclear bombs […] starts to make a fool with a coup in Colombia, he said during a speech.

This new pass of arms comes at a time when the Petro government is experiencing turbulence with the resignation of its Minister of Foreign Affairs, Laura Sarabia, due to “differences”.

In addition, Colombia recently announced that it “suspended” the extradition to the United States from armed group figures participating in peace talks with the government, even if it means deteriorating relations already tense with the American government.

In Washington, dissatisfaction is growing while the “total peace policy” of Gustavo Petro, himself a former gueriléro, is accused of having left the frank cubits to the narcotrafic.

The usually close relations between the two countries have deteriorated since Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January. They had experienced a brief, but intense diplomatic crisis at the end of January on the dismissal of migrants illegally entered in the United States.

Colombia has experienced a revival of violence and is going through its most serious security crisis in the last decade. “Despite political differences with the current government, Colombia remains an essential strategic partner,” said the State Department.