President Trump is threatening heavy sanctions against Colombia amid his feud with its unpopular left-wing president, Gustavo Petro — and Colombians both there and here in South Florida will likely feel caught in the middle.
Petro accuses Trump of murdering Colombians and other Latin Americans on suspected drug-trafficking boats the U.S. military has recently destroyed in the Caribbean.
As a result, Trump is calling Petro himself a "drug dealer" because of his failure to rein in Colombia's violent narco-cartels — and he says he’ll cut hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Colombia while imposing new tariffs on the country.
READ MORE: Colombia’s president lashes out at Trump administration over drug war designation
Earlier this year, the Trump administration already slashed a chunk of the $400 million U.S. aid Colombia was set to receive. It's unclear if Trump's new declaration means Colombia would lose all U.S. aid.
Back in January, in the early days of Trump's new term, Trump threatened to slap crippling tariffs on Colombia if Petro did not agree to receive flights carrying Colombian migrant deportees from the U.S. (Petro did agree after initially resisting.)
But political analysts like Colombian-American Marco Frieri warn that although a sizeable swath of Colombians "approve of Trump telling Petro to back down on all the crazy things he says and does," Trump's own stature with them stands to fall if he carries out this threats.
“The anti-Petro sentiment is indeed very significant," Frieri told WLRN from Barranquilla, Colombia.
"But Colombians are conflicted because they also see that Colombia will be losing a lot of resources for security and economic development.
"That hit will damage not just Petro but them, too — and it won't matter if you voted for Petro or not.”
Frieri, who lives between Miami and Washington D.C., added that even though South Florida’s Colombian expats are strongly anti-Petro, they too potentially stand to feel conflicted.
“Initially the [Colombian] community in South Florida is going to be very pro-Trump on this," Frieri said.
"But there’s a large business community" inside the diaspora "that does a lot of business between both countries — and they’re going to be hit, too, if there's tariffs," he added.
Trump has been critical not just of Petro but Petro's successor, right-wing former President Iván Duque, for being what Trump calls lax in reducing cocaine production, trafficking and violence in Colombia.
Frieri said that's one point of agreement between Trump and Colombians.
"Three years into Petro's presidency, we've seen not only his [anti-drug] efforts fail, we have also seen ... and increasing number of narco-groups and less concentration on fighting drug cartels."
Petro, who may not run for re-election next year under Colombia's constitution, has also invited controversy by calling for the legalization of drugs like cocaine, even though it's considered much more addictive and harmful than marijuana, which has been legalized in some U.S. states.
His son, Nicolás Petro, is under indictment in Colombia for taking bribes from drug traffickers (he has pleaded not guilty) though the President himself is not implicated and has not tried to impede the prosecution.
Gustavo Petro this week has recalled Colombia’s ambassador to the U.S. for consultation about the dispute with Trump.
