Latest news with #LauraSarabia
Bloomberg
10-08-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Villavicencio To Be Officially Named Colombian Foreign Minister
Rosa Villavicencio is set to be confirmed as Colombia's foreign minister as the Andean nation faces fraying relations with the US and neighboring Peru. Villavicencio, who had served as deputy foreign minister, was named to the post in early July to replace Laura Sarabia, who quit. Her CV was uploaded to the presidency's website on Friday, a traditional procedure for incoming government officials. Villavicencio is an economist and holds graduate degrees in migration and international cooperation.
Associated Press
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Colombia's president backtracks on accusations against US officials in letter to Trump
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian President Gustavo Petro attempted to ease tensions with the United States in June by sending a letter to President Donald Trump saying he did not intend to accuse U.S. officials of trying to overthrow his government. The confidential letter, dated June 23, was leaked to Colombian media outlets on Monday. Relations between the two countries are at their worst since the 1990s, when the U.S. stripped a Colombian president of his visa following allegations that his campaign was financed by drug traffickers. In the June 23 letter, Petro appears to backtrack from comments made during a speech on June 11, where he accused Secretary of State Marco Rubio of leading a plot to overthrow his government. Petro had said in the speech that 'a neighboring President' had told him that Rubio was leading a plot against him. 'I would like to clarify that any expression of mine, which may have been interpreted as a direct accusation about participation in a coup attempt in Colombia had no in intention of signaling anyone personally or questioning the role of the United States, without any proof,' Petro writes in the letter. He also suggests that both Presidents should lead a U.S. - Latin America summit. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday she was not sure if Trump had seen the letter. Petro did not immediately comment on the letter after it was leaked to the press Monday. Colombia's Foreign Minister Laura Sarabia confirmed the letter was sent last month as part of an effort to 'strengthen' the relation between both countries. On Thursday, the U.S. recalled its top diplomat from Colombia with the State Department citing 'baseless and reprehensible statements from the highest levels' of Colombia's government. Colombia replied by recalling its ambassador from Washington in what Petro described as an effort to review the bilateral relationship, and analyze what kind of progress has been made on issues such as fighting climate change and 'attacking' the international finances of drug traffickers. Colombia and the U.S. have long been partners in the fight against the cocaine trade, with the South American country receiving more than $13 billion in U.S. aid over the past two decades. But the relationship has changed since Petro came into office in 2022, with the Colombian president prioritizing issues like climate change and the transition to clean forms of energy. Petro and Trump clashed in January after Colombia's president refused to accept two deportation flights operated by the U.S. military, arguing that Colombian citizens on the planes were being subjected to inhumane conditions. Trump threatened Colombia with 25% tariffs after the planes were prevented from landing, but the dispute was resolved within hours through a deal in which Colombia agreed to send its own planes to the U.S. to pick up Colombian migrants that have been handed deportation orders. In June, Petro accused U.S. Congressmen Carlos Gimenez and Mario Diaz Balart of trying to overthrow him. The congressmen were mentioned in recordings in which Colombia's former foreign minister, Alvaro Leyva, discusses plans to remove Petro from office, with an unnamed source. Both have denied any involvement in plans to remove Petro. Last week, Colombian prosecutors opened an investigation into the recordings, which were leaked to the Spanish newspaper El País. Tensions between Colombia and the United States come as cocaine production in Colombia reaches records levels, with Colombia's coca crop reaching 253,000 hectares (976 square miles) in 2023, according to the United Nations, a 40% increase from 2020.
Bloomberg
06-07-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Petro Confidant Says She's Out of Colombia's Government for Good
Colombia's outgoing foreign minister, a key lieutenant who was seen as a moderating influence on President Gustavo Petro, says her time in government is now over. Laura Sarabia confirmed to local news outlet Cambio that she resigned last week because she lost an internal battle over the production of passports.
Al Jazeera
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
US and Colombia recall envoys as diplomatic rift deepens
The United States and Colombia have called home their respective top diplomats in an acceleration of worsening ties, against the backdrop of an alleged plot against Colombia's left-wing leader. Washington, DC went first, recalling its charge d'affaires John McNamara on Thursday, 'following baseless and reprehensible statements from the highest levels of the government of Colombia,' State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said, without giving specifics. In addition to McNamara's recall, Bruce said the United States 'is pursuing other measures to make clear our deep concern over the current state of our bilateral relationship', without further details. Within hours, Colombia's President Gustavo Petro announced he was calling home his top diplomat in Washington, DC, in response. Ambassador Daniel Garcia-Pena 'must come to inform us of the development of the bilateral agenda,' Petro wrote on X, such as tapping South America's 'great potential for clean energy' and the fight against 'drug lords and their international finances'. The diplomatic row came on the heels of the resignation of Colombia's foreign minister earlier on Thursday – the latest top-ranking official to exit Petro's government. 'In recent days, decisions have been made that I do not agree with and that, out of personal integrity and institutional respect, I cannot support,' Laura Sarabia, who was also Petro's former chief of staff, wrote on X. Deterioration of ties Colombia was until recently one of the US's closest partners in Latin America, with decades of right-wing rule, before bilateral relations sharply deteriorated. Prosecutors in the South American nation opened an investigation this week into an alleged plot to overthrow Petro with the help of Colombian and American politicians, following the publication by the Spanish daily El Pais of recordings implicating former Foreign Minister Alvaro Leyva. 'This is nothing more than a conspiracy with drug traffickers and apparently, the Colombian and American extreme right,' Petro said on Monday. During a speech in Bogota on Thursday, Petro said he did not think US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whom he had previously linked to the alleged overthrow attempt, was 'in the midst of a coup d'etat' against his government. 'I don't believe that a government that has Iran as its enemy and nuclear weapons pointed at it … is going to start fooling around with a coup d'etat' in Colombia, he said. In late January, the US briefly suspended consular services to retaliate for Petro's refusal to allow US military planes to return Colombian refugees and migrants to their homeland. Petro accused the US of treating them like criminals, placing them in shackles and handcuffs. The two countries issued threats and counter-threats of crippling trade tariffs of up to 50 percent. A backroom diplomatic deal involving the deployment of Colombian air force planes to collect the refugees and migrants averted a looming trade war at the eleventh hour. Al Jazeera's Alessandro Rampietti, reporting from Bogota, said the first crisis between the two countries over the deportation of migrants was resolved quickly in January. 'The current situation is obviously very worrisome as it is unclear what will happen in this case,' he said. 'But it shows that ties that were taken for granted might now be unravelling,' Rampietti added. Colombia's left-wing government also recently refused a US request to extradite two prominent rebel leaders wanted by Washington, DC, for alleged drug trafficking. Last month, Colombia was rattled by bombing attacks in Cali in the southwest of the country that killed seven people, and the attempted assassination of a conservative opposition senator and presidential hopeful, Miguel Uribe Turbay, at a campaign rally in Bogota. The eruption of violence raised fears of a return to the darker days of previous decades, of assassinations and bombings.
Bloomberg
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Colombia's Foreign Minister Quits, Deepening Petro's Woes
Colombian Foreign Minister Laura Sarabia quit on Thursday, the latest in a series of high-profile defections to shake the leftist administration of President Gustavo Petro. Sarabia, 31, has been one of Petro's closest allies since he took office in 2022. But in recent days, the government took 'decisions that I do not share and that for personal consistency and institutional respect I cannot support,' she said in a resignation letter posted on X.
