Leave Colombia Alone

Trump is lashing out at Colombia because Petro has condemned the president’s murders in the strongest terms.

The administration’s murderous boat attacks are further wrecking relations with Colombia:

“U.S. government officials have committed a murder and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters,” Mr. Petro wrote on social media. He said the man killed in the mid-September attack, Alejandro Carranza, was a “lifelong fisherman” whose boat had experienced damage and was adrift, probably in Colombian waters, at the time of the attack. His description of Mr. Carranza and his boat could not be immediately confirmed.

Mr. Trump responded by accusing Mr. Petro of not doing enough to curb the production of illegal drugs, calling him an “illegal drug dealer” with “a fresh mouth toward America.” Mr. Trump also said that the United States would halt aid payments to Colombia, which has long ranked among the largest recipients worldwide of U.S. counternarcotics assistance. He later told reporters on Air Force One that he would announce new tariffs on Colombian goods on Monday.

The president’s attacks on Colombian President Gustavo Petro are absurd. Trump is lashing out at Colombia because Petro has condemned the president’s murders in the strongest terms. In addition to the usual pettiness that defines Trump’s foreign policy, punishing Colombia reconfirms that Trump has little interest in truly combating the drug trade. Antagonizing the Colombian government is the last thing that the administration should do if it were genuinely interested in reducing the flow of narcotics out of Colombia. The president wants to use U.S. military power to intimidate and threaten other countries in the region, and now he is adding Colombia to the list of targets. In response to Trump’s threats and insults, Colombia has recalled its ambassador from Washington.