Colombia vs. United States: A Harbinger of a Future Clash?
Colombia’s willingness to challenge the United States' interests abroad will make it a target for potential regime change operations.
Once one of the more solid bilateral partnerships in the Western Hemisphere, Colombia-United States relations are on the cusp of entering a new phase of deterioration under Donald Trump’s second term.
Starting on Jan. 26, 2025, a diplomatic dispute erupted between the United States and Colombia over the deportation of Colombian illegal aliens. In that instance, Colombian President Gustavo Petro prevented two U.S. military aircraft carrying deported Colombian illegal aliens from entering the country, alluding to concerns about the allegedly inhumane treatment the deportees faced.
As a response, President Donald Trump threatened to slap a 25 percent tariff on all Colombian imports to the United States, which would ramp up to 50 percent within the span of a week. Trump also threatened to impose a travel ban for Colombian nationals, visa sanctions on Colombian government officials, and further inspections of Colombian cargo and citizens entering the United States.
Petro responded in kind by threatening to impose a 25 percent tariff on U.S. goods imported to Colombia, which would also climb upward to 50 percent after a week.
However, within a matter of hours, both countries reached an agreement to end the diplomatic quarrel. On its end, Colombia agreed to accept all deported migrants arriving on U.S. military aircraft without any limitations or further delays. In exchange, Trump backed away from implementing sanctions and tariffs. However, he stated that they would be kept “in reserve” unless Colombia fails to honor the terms of the agreement.
Are United States Foreign Policy Priorities Changing?
Trump immediately marketed Petro’s acquiescence to his demands as a major diplomatic victory in his first few days. So far, the Trump administration’s foreign policy seems to be all over the place.
On one hand, one gets the impression that the Trump administration is gearing up for tensions in the Middle East after it approved a nearly $3 billion arms sale to Israel, wherein it circumvented the normal congressional review process. This arms package consisted of over 35,500 MK 84 and BLU-117 bombs (2,000-pound bombs) and 4,000 Predator warheads.
The nature of this sale suggests that the United States is ready to give the green light to a renewed Israeli military operation in Gaza, and even potentially expanding aggression to the West Bank. Moreover, it also suggests that the United States is preparing to assist Israel in a potential confrontation with Iran. The U.S. Air Force deployed two B-52 strategic bombers to fly across the Middle East, accompanied by F-15 fighters and jets from four regional allies. Security experts speculate the Trump administration is considering the use of preventative airstrikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.
On the other hand, American foreign policy seems to have taken a retro-futuristic turn as the United States is shifting its gaze towards Latin America. From bandying tariff threats to Colombia and Mexico for not addressing illegal immigration in a satisfactory manner to Trump’s threats to seize the Panama Canal over China’s alleged influence over the waterway, the United States is looking to shore up its interests in the Western Hemisphere. This signals a potential move to a Monroe Doctrine-style foreign policy where the United States is more concentrated on affairs in the Western Hemisphere.
The Changing Dynamics in American-Colombian Relations
Where Colombia figures into the U.S.'s changing strategic calculus in the Western Hemisphere will be of great interest to geopolitical observer. For nearly three decades, Colombia has been the United States’ most reliable ally in South America. Starting in 1999, the United States forged a partnership with Colombia (Plan Colombia) to fight drug cartels and insurgents. The program lasted until 2015 and played a key role in solidifying the Colombian state’s monopoly on violence and laid the groundwork for its recent economic successes.
During this period, the United States and Colombia entered a free trade agreement to deepen their economic ties. The United States is the leading destination for Colombian exports. In 2024, for example, Colombian exports to the United States reached $14 billion, which makes up 28% of Colombia’s exports. For its fealty to the United States, Colombia was awarded with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) partnership status in 2017. A move of this nature suggested that the U.S. was preparing to use Colombia as a launchpad against Venezuela in a future regime change operation or other venture to destabilize Colombia’s neighbor.
However, United States-Colombia relations hit a rough patch when Petro was elected president in 2022. Since then, Colombia has been charting an independent foreign policy path. On Oct. 3, 2024, Colombian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Jorge Rojas announced the country’s plan to join China’s BRI initiative. To make matters worse, Colombia’s position toward Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks has raised alarm bells in both Tel Aviv and Washington.
Petro has sharply criticized Israel’s ethnic cleansing campaign in Gaza, accusing it of carrying out a genocide against the Palestinians. Shortly after Hamas’ attacks, Colombia recalled its ambassador to Israel on Oct. 30, 2023. Colombia would then break diplomatic ties with Israel on May 1, 2024.
Petro’s hostile stances against Israel were met with firm pushback from the preceding administration of Joe Biden. In March 2024, then-U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, Deborah Lipstadt, lambasted Petro’s remarks, proclaiming that they “crossed a line” and were telltale signs of “anti-Semitism.” The diplomat warned that such statements could negatively impact Colombia’s relationship with the United States. Lipstadt stressed that if countries “want to work with the United States closely, this is [criticizing Israel] not something that redounds to their benefit.”
Souring relations between Colombia and the United States are a bipartisan trend that continues to the present. Current Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a well-known hawk against countries like Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela in addition to being a cipher for Zionist interests, Rubio had choice words for Petro’s regime and its decision to break diplomatic ties with Jewish state. Rubio proclaimed, “As a far-left Marxist, Petro continues to serve as a spokesperson for criminal thugs, who are viciously killing innocent Israelis.”
Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador to the United States, who has a blunt way of advocating for Israel’s interests, praised the Trump administration for threatening to impose tariffs on Colombia. He declared, “I applaud the strength displayed by President Trump in standing up to the virulently anti-American government of Colombia. Terror-supporting regimes of the world take notice: America is back.”
Is Geopolitical Blowback Coming?
By getting into a diplomatic imbroglio with Israel, Colombia has joined its neighbor Venezuela in becoming one of Israel’s most fervent critics in the Western Hemisphere. On a broader geopolitical note, the United States getting into diplomatic scuffles with Colombia and Venezuela has in a roundabout way created the conditions for the potential formation of a “Gran Colombia” balancing coalition against the United States. Gran Colombia was a short-lived state that existed from 1819 to 1831. It spanned present-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama, parts of northern Peru, northwestern Brazil, and western Guyana.
The late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez wanted to resurrect a 21st century version of this concept by trying to create a unified Latin America undergirded by the republican principles of the 19th-century liberator Simón Bolívar. Chávez’s “neo-Bolivarian” project would serve as a counterweight to U.S. influence in the region. However, Chávez’s unexpected death in 2013 threw a wrench in this project. Amusingly, U.S. foreign policy’ miscalculations and overreach on the world stage has inadvertently created fertile ground for the aforementioned Latin American countries to find common ground against an increasingly belligerent United States.
Israel Comes First
Because of U.S. overextension in its foreign commitments and the rise of rivals like China and Russia who have made gradual inroads in Latin America, Washington is being forced to recalibrate its foreign policy vision, albeit in a ham-fisted way.
Latin American countries don’t pose any sort of military threat to Israel — or the United States for that matter — due to their obvious military deficiencies. However, these countries can play a role in diplomatically undermining Israel. The diplomatic realm is one dimension Israel has a vested interest in trying to dominate. Its legitimacy is largely predicated on attaining as much diplomatic recognition abroad in addition to having as many countries as possible to co-sign or at least ignore its multi-decade campaign to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians.
Every time a country criticizes Israel or even goes the extra mile by breaking diplomatic ties with it, the Israeli state’s legitimacy gets called into question. Owing to how the United States is thoroughly captured by Israeli interests, it can be relied on to provide the Jewish state with constant flows of military aid and diplomatic cover in international forums such as the United Nations. Furthermore, the United States will go out of its way to punish or threaten any other country that dares to diplomatically challenge Israel on the world stage.
The geopolitical game is one of great fluctuation and changing interests among nations. Once a solid partner of the United States, Colombia has been exercising its options on the world stage much to the chagrin of Washington and even its masters in Tel Aviv. As the United States reaches the limits of imperial overextension, its new approach is shaping out to be one of maintaining a Judeo-American supremacist order of singling out countries in the Western Hemisphere that are getting too close to China and/or take hostile stances towards Israel.
Colombia will be a country to watch in the second Trump term. Its willingness to positively interact and broaden ties with U.S. rivals such as China in addition to attacking the Israeli mothership will make it a prime target for regime change. The United States has reached such a point of Zionist occupation where any country that dares criticize Israel will face the wrath of its heavily-armed sugar daddy in Uncle Sam.
While the United States appears to have abandoned its nation-building zeal of yesteryear, it’s still pursuing a grand strategy of primacy among nations and securing the interests of its “greatest ally in Israel” — a far cry from American First.
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These type of actions from the GAE have genuinely made we wonder if there’s truth to these “antisemitic” conspiracy theories from the hard right that I’ve previously dismissed.
Certain post-Oct 7 events, in additional to them suddenly giving a shit about illegal Colombian immigrants as you pointed out, makes it hard to not notice how power is willing to slaughter their other sacred cows on behalf of the tribe.
Take the plight of South Africa whites. They’ve been oppressed for decades now. This has been ignored or even enabled by the West this entire time up until SA brought Israel to trial. Just a coincidence I’m sure.
Look at the reaction to Pro-Palestinian college protests. They were crushed using both hard and soft power. Compare that to the tacit endorsement of the other various BLM/anti-white/anti-colonialist protests. Or the treatment of the Jewish frat boys who “protected the American (and Israeli) flag” vs the treatment of the Covington Catholic boys.
Prior to Oct 7 not only were anti-white/anti-american sentiments allowed they were actively encouraged by power. Up until the moment Jews became white adjacent anyway.
The only difference is that 99% of the left’s gripes with white America is fake. They need to invent atrocities. While its not the case with the Israelis. Anyone can go on tiktok and see Israelis themselves proudly posting all manner of horrific shit. I follow Buck Johnson’s podcast and he posted a video of IDF soldiers getting fake gay married in a orthodox church in Gaza before wrecking the place and that’s tame compared to other things you can watch them do like shooting a small child in the groin.
I know a decent amount about the history of the Zionist-Palestinian conflict. The US bribed and threatened countries to fall in line in ‘47 around the end of the Mandate. This could be explained away in that NY state was a swing state with a large Jewish population at the time. But this is no longer the case. The Jewish demographic is irrelevant with regards to electoral politics.
I’m trying to understand why power is acting like this and the only thing I can come up with is, as you put it, the US is “Uncle Sambostein”.