As I have mentioned more than once in this column, human thinking tends to view trends as inevitable and unending, yet minor, sometimes imperceptible, changes in behavior can alter the trajectory of events. The most concrete example I can think of is when a pilot enters data for a planned course; even one digit in that plot can take the flight in a far different direction than one expects.
The contemporary U.S.-Colombian relationship exemplifies this. Merely two decades ago, the firmest relationship between a Latin American capital and the Bush 43 administration was that between Washington and Bogotá. When President Bush attended the 2004 APEC meeting in Santiago, he withdrew to meetings with President Álvaro Uribe Vélez in Cartagena in the aftermath of widespread condemnation of U.S. actions underway in Iraq. This strong alliance, born of Washington’s mutli-pronged development/technical/military aid to the tune of several billion dollars to address both Colombia’s decades’-long political upheaval and its role as a coca-growing country, provided the beleaguered U.S. head of state a respite from the disapproval juxtaposed against the rock star status provided to CCP leader Hu Jintao on his“breakout tour” of the region. Bonds between Bogotá and Washington seemed the firmest ever in the centuries of each state’s independent status.
Yesterday, officials from the U.S. delegation to the United Nations General Assembly walked out as current Colombian president Gustavo Petro Urrego roundly criticized the United States for its “genocide” policy on Gaza, tolerating murder of youth in the Caribbean (presumably the on-going violence in Haiti), and decertifying Colombia for drug assistance as consumption problems plague the United States along with using missiles against unindicted groups in the southern Caribbean under the justification that Washington was killing terrorists.
When the General Assembly convened, however, I suspect many Americans viewed Colombians as insufficiently grateful for both our actions and investments over the years, while our erstwhile partners in Colombia had rediscovered nationalism for their own patria and its ability to govern its own problems. The final straw of blaming the U.S. president by name showed how quickly things could deteriorate.
What happened to destroy the trust, or, put otherwise, the seemingly sustainable ties?
Interests were the primary driver to pull Bogotá and Washington apart. The military assistance, in the eyes of many observers, was less an anti-drug initiative, as billed in the United States, than an effort Uribe Vélez championed to destroy the Colombian leftist guerrillas. While no doubt existed that armed groups on the left long attacked civil society as far back as the 1960s, the Colombian government overlooked similar activities by the political right; many critics actually accused the conservatives in the Republic of being party to human rights abuses cultivated on behalf of the state. These actions set off dissatisfaction for some at home and doubt in Washington, championed by then-Senator Patrick Leahy, who pushed relentlessly to prevent our support, even if unintended, with government-facilitated human rights abusers around the world.
Uribe Vélez failed in an attempt to overstay the two-term limit as Colombian president, succeeded by his vice president. Juan Manuel Santos Calderón negotiated an amnesty for the FARC guerrillas against substantial hostility at home and certainly in Washington. Colombia’s goal became achieving a peaceful condition, rather than the eradication of coca or gue
Today’s photograph is not particularly pretty but the advert caught my attention yesterday in both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. Kitschy, perhaps, but I am not sure it would encourage me to buy from them if one has to use Dr. Google to figure what McAlany.com sells—gold for an unpredictable future. How about you?
Be well and be safe. FIN
Adeola Adeosun and Jesús Mesa, “Colombia President Petro Responds to Trump Tariffs: Read His Full Statement”, Newsweek, 26 Janaury 2025, retrieved at Santos Calderón
Josep Freixes, “Colombia’s Petro Speech Prompts US Walkout at UNGA“, ColombiaOne.com, 24 September 2025, retrieved at https://colombiaone.com/2025/09/24/colombia-gustavo-petro-speech-unga-us-delegation-walkout/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2025-09-24&utm_campaign=Colombia+Daily+News+Digest
McAlvany Precious Metals, “Cryptic ‘Alien Insurance’ Ads in NYT and WSJ revealed Hook for McAlvany Campaign”, PRNewswire.com, 23 September 2025, retrieved at https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cryptic-alien-insurance-ads-in-nyt--wsj-revealed-as-hook-for-mcalvany-campaign-302564824.html
Gregory H. Winger, Miguel Alberto Gómez, and Lauren Sukin, “Washington’s Ironclad Commitments are Rusting in the Indo-Pacific”, Warontherocks.com, 24 September 2025, retrieved at https://warontherocks.com/2025/09/washingtons-ironclad-commitments-are-rusting-in-the-indo-pacific/