He was the one seen rallying crowds outside the UN headquarters in New York and berating the host, President Donald Trump; the one who stood up to the Republican by turning back deported migrants; the one who openly championed legalising cocaine to, he said, undercut traffickers. The tune has suddenly changed: Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, is no longer the same man. It appears that the tragic end of President Nicolas Maduro, now languishing in a New York prison, has definitively sobered Petro.
Trump spoke highly of him after their phone call on 7 January 2026. The Republican typically praises his counterparts when they yield to his demands or sign him big checks. After that conversation, the US president announced that his Colombian counterpart would pay him a visit. He will not be coming empty-handed…
At dawn on Tuesday, 3 February, Petro extradited a drug kingpin to the United States—just hours before his meeting at the White House. The socialist president, who once extolled the legalisation of narcotics trade, has ultimately buckled before the irascible and unpredictable American leader, like all those who once strutted defiantly in front of Trump.
Petro has resumed the extradition of criminal gang leaders, suspended for months amid peace talks with Colombian armed groups—talks that, incidentally, ended in failure. He “gave very clear instructions this weekend for the criminal” known as Pipe Tulua “to be extradited from Colombia to the United States as quickly as possible,” Colombia’s defence minister, Pedro Sanchez, said yesterday, Monday.
It should be noted that Sanchez is part of the delegation heading to Washington, for what is the first official meeting of this level.
The trafficker, however, was hardly celebrating. He was pictured wearing a helmet and a bulletproof vest at a military base at Bogotá airport, according to photos posted by the police. He was then put on a jet bound for the United States. Around 70 officers were securing the area, police colonel Elver Sanabria said. There was no question of letting “Trump’s gift” slip away.
Washington had attacked the suspension of extraditions, decided in the midst of the storm between Trump and Petro. The phone call smoothed matters over. This Tuesday, the two men are setting the framework for a calmer dialogue after months of barbs and threats.
The Republican has stated plainly in the National Security Strategy document that he will bring Latin America into line: Venezuela has fallen, now Colombia—Cuba will yield very soon.
As for Pipe Tulua, head of the La Inmaculada drug cartel and wanted by the US justice system, one can only hope he does not end up in the hands of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele—the absolute terror of drug barons and other hardened criminals.
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