Colombian president says he gave Trump list of major drug ‘kingpins’ during meeting

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said Tuesday he gave President Trump a list of major drug “kingpins” that both countries should work on arresting around the world.

“Their capital is outside Colombia, and they must be pursued jointly through coordinated intelligence work across many sectors of the world,” Petro told reporters during a press conference at the Colombian Embassy in Washington, D.C., following his meeting with Trump at the White House.

Petro said he proposed to the president that Colombia and the U.S. should work in tandem to detain “kingpins of the kingpins,” who he argues live in Madrid, Miami and Dubai.

The Colombian president said he had a “positive” meeting with Trump and that the two discussed “concrete problems and possible paths forward,” although he added that neither of them changed their thinking on “many issues.”

“But how do you make a pact? A pact is not between identical twins,” Petro said during the press conference. “A pact is between opponents who are able to find paths toward a shared human brotherhood.”

Likewise, Trump said he had a “very good” meeting with Petro and added that the two discussed a variety of issues, including sanctions.

“He and I weren’t exactly the best of friends, but I wasn’t insulted because I never met him,” Trump told reporters after the meeting. “I didn’t know at all. And we got along very well.”

The Oval Office meeting came as the two leaders had exchanged barbs, with Trump accusing Petro of “making cocaine and selling” it to the U.S. Last month, Trump responded with “sounds good to me” when asked about potential military action in Colombia.

In Turn, Petro denounced the Trump administration’s lethal strikes against alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific and hammered the president on the U.S. raid to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

Petro denied that he requested that the president remove him from the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List and added that he invited Trump to visit Cartagena, a port city on the country’s Caribbean coast.

In November, Petro said he ordered Colombia’s security forces to halt sharing intelligence with the U.S. in light of the U.S. military’s strikes on alleged drug boats. Petro said Tuesday that he “never canceled” intelligence sharing, even though he said he would, and that he in fact expanded intelligence sharing.

Petro said Trump gave him a “Make America Great Again” hat on Tuesday, and the Colombian president suggested adding a letter “S” so that it would say “Make Americas Great Again.”