Gustavo Petro and Donald Trump agreed on “joint actions” to combat the ELN in Colombia

In that communication, the leftist Petro accepted an invitation from Trump to a meeting at the White House.

They also “committed to carrying out joint actions” against the National Liberation Army (ELN), Interior Minister Armando Benedetti told Blu Radio.

Now the Colombian leader is trying to assume a leading role in the region. His government stated in a statement that the interim president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, will visit Petro at the government palace in Bogotá, without specifying a date.

Benadetti told the media that Petro informed Trump about Rodríguez’s visit to the Colombian capital and offered himself as a “mediator” in communications between Washington and Caracas. In addition, he reaffirmed that Colombia recognizes Maduro’s successor as interim president.

After months of tensions, the climate between Colombia and the United States is one of “relief” and “tranquility” after the call, “but there is no atmosphere (…) of triumphalism,” said Vice Foreign Minister Mauricio Jaramillo, to AFP.

The “key word” is “caution,” he added.

“Clean slate”

Colombia and Venezuela share a porous 2,200 kilometer border in which different armed groups dispute the income from drug trafficking, illegal mining and smuggling.

According to Benedetti, Petro asked Trump for help to “hit the ELN hard,” since the guerrillas “always ended up in Venezuela” after fighting with the Colombian public forces. “There were times that Venezuela helped and other times it didn’t,” he said.

For this reason, it is necessary that “they are also attacked in the rear” in Venezuela.

In December, the ELN ordered the confinement of civilians in the areas under its control, in what it called an “armed strike” to respond to “Trump’s threats of intervention.”

Petro unsuccessfully tried to negotiate peace with that guerrilla after coming to power in 2022, as part of his policy to demobilize all armed groups through dialogue.

The rapprochements were buried after an offensive by the rebels against fighters from another guerrilla in a border area known as Catatumbo, a year ago, which left a hundred dead and tens of thousands displaced.

On Wednesday, Petro had called marches throughout the country in rejection of the threats from Trump, who accused him without evidence of being a drug trafficking leader. and said that it would seem “good” to carry out a military incursion on Colombian soil similar to the one carried out in Venezuela.

Both leaders have clashed repeatedly on issues such as drug trafficking, tariffs and migration. Colombia and the United States, historical military and economic allies, were in one of the worst moments of their bilateral relationship.

Now, with a view to the meeting at the White House, they will address “thorny and difficult issues, but within the framework of democracy,” added Vice Chancellor Jaramillo.

The main “challenge,” he added, is “maintaining a good dialogue,” for which it is necessary to make a “clean slate.”