Colombian President Gustavo Petro tells News themezone he hopes dialogue with Trump works

Speaking for the first time with a U.S. news network after his first conversation with President Trump, Colombia’s leftist President Gustavo Petro said Thursday that he was glad to have been invited to a meeting at the White House and that he hoped an ongoing dialogue with Trump would “stop a world war.”

Following the US attack on Venezuela and the capture of the country’s former president, Petro said that any attack on his country by the United States would start a civil war in Colombia and “would be a foolish policy.”

Below is a transcript of some of the highlights from News themezone correspondent Lilia Luciano’s interview with Petro.

Lilia Luciano: What did you say to President Trump? What did he tell you? Did they make any promises?

President Gustavo Petro: It allowed me to explain two points that I wanted to highlight…

Luciano: What were those points? What did you tell him?

petro: Our successes in the fight against drug trafficking in Colombia go against the narrative they have created in the United States. I call this political jealousy [over our successes against] Colombian drug trafficking, and they don’t…

Luciano: You told them about the success…

petro: And the United States doesn’t know anything about that.

Luciano: He told them about the success of his cocaine and drug trafficking seizures in Colombia. What else did you tell him?

petro: Well, apart from those results, which have been very good, historic I would say in figures, we are talking about Venezuela, on my initiative. He did not mention Venezuela. He didn’t mention any details, but rather we talked about a procedure to reestablish communication.

Luciano: He didn’t talk about Venezuela, but there was a discussion about Venezuela. He didn’t give you any details, but you did talk about Venezuela. What did you talk about? He did not give any details about Venezuela. What does that mean and what was said about Venezuela?

petro: That means that perhaps these points will be addressed exclusively personally, which is fine with me.

Luciano: Are you looking forward to having that conversation?

petro: If there has been no communication during his entire mandate, rebuilding it is undoubtedly not easy and is the first thing that must be done. The figures can be disputed, but they must be official and any falsehood must be exposed.

Luciano: Tell me more about what President Trump told you.

petro: He let me speak for 40 of the 55 minutes… He told me: ‘They have told as many lies about you as they have about me.’

Luciano: Were you ever afraid that President Trump would come after you?

petro: Look, what I am most afraid of, and I am not going to say that I am not afraid of being threatened when I see the images of helicopters flying and missiles. [in Venezuela]when we don’t even have an air defense system… But what if something happens here against the President of Colombia… That would undoubtedly cause a civil war, and also hostility towards the United States that the United States does not deserve. “It would be a foolish policy.”

Luciano: What is your goal? Why are you going to the White House? Is it about stopping a war in Latin America?

petro: To stop a world war.

Petro has invited Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, a member of his ousted predecessor’s inner circle, whom the Colombian leader calls a friend, to visit him in his own presidential palace, but says he does not plan to mediate between Rodríguez and Trump.

Luciano: Do you trust President Trump’s intentions in Venezuela?

petro: I think you believe in shared governance, but not separate from the idea of ​​maintaining control of oil.

While Petro says he does not approve of the Trump administration’s plans to control Venezuelan oil production, he said he believes he and the American leader share a vision about who should govern Venezuela in the future.

Luciano: Do you suggest a shared government between the Delcy regime and the opposition?

petro: Yeah.

Luciano: What do you think about [Venezuelan opposition leader] Maria Corina Machado?

petro: Look, she said, I have never spoken to her.

Luciano: So you wouldn’t trust her or support her as a leader?

petro: I invited her once and she didn’t want to come. I was obviously surprised that Trump thought the same as me.

Trump said after the United States captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro that he did not believe Machado had enough support within his country to be a viable leader, and although both he and Petro expressed distrust in her, the Venezuelan people appear to disagree.

Among the opposition, she was polling at 93% before last year’s elections in which Maduro claimed a decisive victory, but which the United States and Machado say he stole. While the Maduro regime prevented Machado from running, the United States and many outside observers believe that the candidate she endorsed won 70% of the vote, even though Maduro declared himself the winner.