Rubio Picks a Fight with Colombia: recalls ambassadors amidst vague claims
The political crisis follows the breaking story that Colombia's right-wing may have met with GOP Congressman to discuss removing Petro
The U.S. State Department is picking a fight with Colombia, and the reasons why aren’t very clear. Yesterday, the U.S. recalled its ambassadors in the country, eliciting the same decision from Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio recalled John McNamara, the Chargé d’Affaires ad interim, “for urgent consultations following baseless and reprehensible statements from the highest levels of the Government of Colombia,” according to a statement on the State Department website.
The U.S. State Department did not name any politicians by name, nor cite any specific comments. Rubio has long disliked Petro, in the past calling him a “terrorist” and a “chaos agent”, in public.
The timing of the move by Rubio, however, is curious. It closely follows leaked audio messages published by EL PAÍS in which former Colombian Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva is heard assuring that he has met with congressmen close to the Secretary of State to seek U.S. support for a coup against Petro.
Colombian media has reported that the Miami Republicans declined to be part of a coup, but did indeed meet with Leyva, who reportedly even proposed using illegal armed groups as part of the plan.
The two Republican politicians are Mario Díaz-Balart and Carlos Antonio Giménez, congressmen from Florida, where Secretary Marco Rubio is also from. Neither have denied meeting with Leyva.
The former Colombian Foreign Minister was seeking a meeting with Rubio, according to both sources in Miami and Bogota.
"I was in the United States and with a top guy, Mario Diaz-Balart,” Leyva said in the recordings. “The Diaz-Balarts are the ones behind the Secretary of State." After releasing the audios, the two legislators have not mentioned Leyva by name but have denied being part of any coup.
Petro said on Wednesday, after the scandal broke, that he did not believe any U.S. Government official had agreed to the plot proposed by Leyva.
The Republican lawmakers spent the day attempting to raise tension between the U.S. government
“Petro can't keep threatening the United States and think he can get away with it,” said Rep. Gimenez in a post on Twitter. “We are with the Colombians who love freedom, not with the narco-terrorist and socialist who lives in the Casa de Nariño,” he added.
The relationship between Bogota and Washington has been rocky since Trump took office, over major disagreements regarding migration and the climate crisis. Recently, however, Petro has managed to maintain a lower profile in his criticisms and avoid tariffs that U.S. President Trump has placed on other countries in the region.
The recordings published by El Pais were formerly in the possession of Colombian Intelligence. They were likely leaked to the Spanish newspaper intentionally.
The move plays well for Petro’s domestic audience, reinforcing long-standing claims that Colombia’s right-wing will attempt any strategy they can to ensure his failure, and even downfall.
The political crisis deepened late Thursday when the U.S. State Department announced it was considering cancelling visas for Colombian politicians “who have links to terrorism.”
They did not elaborate on the threat, mention names, or explain what those links may be. All of the statements made so far by the State Department have been vague and have mentioned no politicians by name.
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Hasta pronto, piratas!