The Art of the Convenient Handshake: When Ideologies Take a Backseat to 'Good' Meetings
THE ACTORS: From 'Drug Kingpin' to 'Very Good Friend' We have Donald Trump, the former US President and current presidential hopeful, known for his transactional approach to diplomacy. Across the table sits Gustavo Petro, Colombia's first leftist President, a former M-19 guerrilla member who rode a wave of anti-establishment sentiment to power. Their public personas are, to put it mildly,
diametrically opposed. Trump has, according to Bloomberg (2023) , openly accused Petro of pumping drugs into the US. Petro, for his part, has been a vociferous critic of US interventions in Latin America, particularly in Venezuela. THE FUNDING: The Deep Pockets of Geopolitics While this particular meeting wasn't about direct financial transactions, the underlying economic interests are colossal.
US foreign aid to Colombia has historically been substantial, primarily focused on anti-narcotics efforts and security assistance. Since 2000, under Plan Colombia, the US has funneled more than $10 billion into Colombia (WOLA, 2012) , much of it directed towards military and police operations, often enriching US defense contractors and private security firms in the process. For any Colombian
leader, regardless of ideology, maintaining some semblance of a working relationship with the US political establishment is almost a fiscal imperative to keep these aid spigots from tightening. For Trump, aligning with a sitting head of state, even a leftist one, can signal a 'diplomatic' gravitas to domestic voters and powerful business interests with stakes in Latin American stability (or