Senator Rand Paul managed to speak with President Donald Trump the day before yesterday and convinced Trump to have a phone call with me, which I accepted. I’ve always believed, since I was young, that dialogue is the better way to stop violence, Petro said.
Trump responded courteously and allowed me to set out my points of view on two topics: drug trafficking and Venezuela, the Colombian president explained. He shared his perspective on narcotics trafficking, emphasizing that he has been working to combat the trade for decades. Petro also told Trump about a previous proposal he made under President Joe Biden to form “an alliance based on respect for nations and clean energies” aimed at preventing the climate crisis from ending in an irreversible and deadly collapse for humanity.
“I know that President Trump doesn’t agree with me, but it’s more convenient to start a dialogue about it than to settle it on battlefields,” Petro concluded. “Now we have to see the consequences of the reestablishment of diplomatic conversation.”
In the weeks leading up to Wednesday, Petro had variously compared Trump to the Nazis and accused him of belonging to a clan of pedophiles. Trump, in turn, sanctioned Petro and warned him to “watch his ass,” suggesting he could be the next victim of U.S. intervention.
While the Colombian president has pivoted from saber-rattling to dialogue, not all of his countrymen share this perspective. Cities across Colombia have been flooded with protesters decrying potential U.S. military action against Maduro and denouncing American imperialism. Some critics have accused Petro of “bending the knee” to Trump by accepting the phone call, a smear that seems to have affected the Colombian leader.
“They say that I knelt, another lie. They throw the stone and hide their hands,” Petro said of his critics. “No one from the M19 refuses dialogue; it is in dialogue where peace is found. Dialogue does not kneel; the lie does.”
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“M19” refers to the 19th of April Movement, an insurgent guerrilla alliance in Colombia that Petro joined as a teenager. It later transformed into a political party before being absorbed into broader coalitions.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/world/4411812/petro-rejects-claim-knelt-for-trump-phone-call/