US, Colombia recall top diplomats as rift deepens
WASHINGTON
The United States and Colombia have called home their respective envoys in an apparent acceleration of worsening ties, against the backdrop of an alleged plot against Colombia's leftist leader.
Washington went first, recalling its charge d'affaires John McNamara "following baseless and reprehensible statements from the highest levels of the Government of Colombia," State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said, without giving specifics.
Within hours, Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced he was calling home his top diplomat in Washington 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."
Colombia was until recently one of the United States's closest partners in Latin America. But ties have sharply deteriorated.
Colombian prosecutors 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 July 30.
