Washington, Feb 4th.- Based on the photos published, it seems that today's meeting at the White House between the President of the United States, Donald Trump, and his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, followed a path of détente.
The face-to-face meeting took place, but to everyone's surprise, especially the press, the encounter was held behind closed doors.
Petro arrived in this capital the day before on a visit that, as the leaders themselves said at the time, originated from a phone call between them.
The ties between the two countries had become strained to a breaking point amid escalating war of words and the threat of a military operation following the large-scale attack ordered by Trump, violating Venezuela's sovereignty and resulting in the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Regarding Petro, the Republican even suggested that he could be the next [target], and his U.S. visa along with several of his relatives' had been revoked.
Therefore, Tuesday's talks represent a 180-degree turn in Trump's stance toward Petro and Colombia, although the occupant of the Oval Office expressed discomfort with the tone of messages weeks earlier about his administration's strategy to block drug trafficking.
Petro condemned the campaign of attacks in international waters on vessels allegedly engaged in drug trafficking in the Caribbean and the Pacific, and spoke out against the kidnapping of Maduro.
The Colombian Presidency reported that the president's agenda includes political, academic, business activities and engagements with the Colombian community in the United States.
After the meeting, Petro said he walked through the Presidents' Hall in the White House alongside Trump. "We walked the corridor of U.S. presidents; in the Casa de Nariño (the presidential residence of Colombia) there is one, you go through history, but there is always a wall at the end: what's next?" he wrote on the social network X.
In a post by the Colombian leader, there is a photo showing the two heads of state shaking hands, smiling, in the Oval Office, accompanied by a dedication from the host that says: "Gustavo: A great honor. Love to Colombia.”
