In a post on Truth Social, Trump stated that if conservative attorney Abelardo de la Espriella wins the runoff on June 21, the Andean country will have Washington’s “total support.” He is up against the communist senator Iván Cepeda, who is Petro’s supporter.
“I request, as President of Colombia, that you not intervene in the campaign and allow the people of Colombia to decide freely,” Petro wrote in a post on X. “Whoever wins will maintain the friendship of more than two centuries between Colombia and the US.”
Y ¿qué pasa si en elecciones en EEUU las gana otra manera de pensar?
Las relaciones entre países no deben construirse sobre ideologías efímeras, sino sobre pactos por la Vida y la Libertad permanentes, como le propuse al presidente Donald Trump, frente al retrato de Abraham… https://t.co/QZxfMb4Sa9
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) June 10, 2026
De la Espriella, a citizen of the United States, expressed gratitude to Trump for his backing. He was the front-runner to become the country’s next leader after surpassing the majority of polls to win the first round of votes last month. Petro is not qualified to run.
De la Espriella received 53% of the vote, while Cepeda received 45%, according to an AtlasIntel survey released on Wednesday by Semana magazine.
This week, Petro travelled to New York to chair a debate at the UN Security Council, where he spoke about topics like climate change and artificial intelligence.
According to the Washington Post on Wednesday, he was supposed to meet with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani on his trip, but the Trump administration objected, therefore the meeting was cancelled.
Petro and members of his inner circle were sanctioned by the US last year for allegedly facilitating narcotics trafficking, which prevented them from doing business with US corporations or utilising the US banking system.
Despite their frequent disagreements, Petro and Trump’s relationship improved following a face-to-face encounter in Washington in February.
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(Edited by : Juviraj Anchil)
