CELAC | The City Paper Bogotá

US Hits Seventh Narco-Boat Off Colombia, Blurring Lines Between Ally and Adversary

By The City Paper Staff - November 5, 2025

The United States carried out its seventh missile strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in the Eastern Pacific near Colombia on Tuesday, the latest in a rapidly expanding maritime campaign that has killed at least 67 people and is drawing Colombia into the same operational battlefield long reserved for President Nicolás Maduro’s Venezuela. In a […]

EU Leaders Ditch Santa Marta Summit With U.S. Sanctions on Petro

By Richard Emblin - November 4, 2025

The upcoming EU-CELAC summit in Santa Marta, billed as Colombia’s most ambitious diplomatic event in over a decade, is now being reshaped by a cascade of cancellations from European leaders following U.S. sanctions against President Gustavo Petro. What was expected to unite more than 60 heads of state from Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean […]

Colombia’s Petro tells U.S President Trump: “We Must Rise to the Occasion”

By Richard Emblin - July 7, 2025

On June 23, Colombian President Gustavo Petro sent a conciliatory letter to U.S. President Donald Trump, retracting earlier coup claims and urging renewed dialogue amid a deepening diplomatic rift. Petro acknowledged his remarks may have been misinterpreted and proposed a U.S.–CELAC summit to rebuild trust. The White House has yet to respond.

Colombia's Gustavo Petro attends the VII Summit of CELAC in Buenos Aires. Photo: Nelson Cárdenas/Presidencia.

Colombia’s Petro wants to lead Latin America’s Left. Will anyone follow?

By Richard Emblin - January 26, 2023

The recent gathering of CELAC heads of state in Buenos Aires revealed growing ideological rifts among Latin America’s leftist leaders. Colombia’s Petro challenged Peru’s human rights abuses.

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