After threatening him several times, Trump talked to the president of Colombia on the phone and invited him to the White House. What “joint actions” did the two agree on

Colombian President Gustavo Petro and his American counterpart Donald Trump “committed to carrying out joint actions” against the ELN guerrillas operating on the border with Venezuela, Colombian Interior Minister Armando Benedetti announced on Thursday, according to AFP.

After an escalation of tensions following the US bombing of Caracas on January 3, the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and threats of military action against Colombia, Gustavo Petro and Donald Trump held a telephone conversation on Wednesday night, the first between the two leaders since the Republican returned to the White House in January 2025.

And during this discussion, the Colombian left-wing leader accepted an invitation from President Trump to travel to Washington and asked him to “help him hit the ELN hard at the border” with Venezuela, Benedetti assured in an interview for the Blu Radio station.

This extreme left-wing guerrilla group that emerged in 1964 under the inspiration of Argentine revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara counts about 5,800 members who operate in more than 20% of the approximately 1,100 municipalities in Colombia, according to the Insight Crime study center. It is the largest rebel group in America.

On December 13, the ELN guerrilla, which controls cocaine-producing regions, decreed a three-day curfew for the population of these areas, citing Trump's “imperialist intervention threats.”

The American president had warned that cocaine-producing countries in Latin America are “susceptible to attack”, mentioning Colombia, which “manufactures cocaine” and “sells it to us”.

According to Minister Armando Benedetti, guerrilla fighters “always end up in Venezuela” after battles with Colombian law enforcement. It is necessary, he says, that they be attacked “from behind, when they are hit here”.

Colombia and Venezuela share a border of more than 2,200 kilometers, where different armed groups dispute their income from drug trafficking, illegal mining and smuggling.

Gustavo Petro has tried, without success, since coming to power in 2022, to negotiate peace with various armed groups, including the ELN, but talks with it have been suspended since 2024.

Colombia's president and his family are targeted by US economic sanctions

Last fall, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, his wife, one of his sons and his interior minister were added to the US Treasury's “blacklist” by President Trump's administration. The White House accused Petro of failing to fight drug trafficking.

The sanctions froze their assets in the United States and prohibited them from doing business with firms with US ties.

“Since President Gustavo Petro came to power, cocaine production in Colombia has exploded to the highest levels in decades, flooding the United States and poisoning Americans,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement on October 24, 2025.

“President Petro allowed drug cartels to thrive and refused to stop this activity. Today, President Trump is taking strong action to protect our nation and make it clear that we will not tolerate drug trafficking in our country,” the US official added.