BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday recalled its top diplomat in Colombia for “urgent consultations” after recent comments from Colombia’s president appearing to question the U.S. position on an alleged plan to remove him from office.
The U.S. State Department said Thursday that the charge d’affaires at the U.S. embassy in Bogota, John McNamara, would be returning to Washington “following baseless and reprehensible statements from the highest levels of the government of Colombia.”
Colombian President Gustavo Petro responded in kind, recalling Colombia’s ambassador to Washington for consultation. He said he wants to talk to Amb. Daniel García Peña about progress on Colombia’s priorities in the bilateral relationship.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement that the administration would also be “pursuing other measures to make clear our deep concern over the current state of our bilateral relationship.” The statement did not elaborate on the reasons for the recall.
Later on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the move on X, writing that “Our nation is committed to the U.S.-Colombia bilateral relationship and the Colombian people. We will remain engaged on shared priorities, including security and stability.”
Petro has grappled this week with an apparent effort by current or former members of his administration to push him from office.
Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office said Tuesday that it had opened an investigation into a plan allegedly led by Petro’s own former Foreign Affairs Minister Álvaro Leyva. Spanish newspaper El País had published audio recordings over the weekend that appeared to contemplate such a plan.
Leyva had allegedly approached some U.S. lawmakers to rally international pressure on Petro.
On Wednesday, Petro said on X that there had been an attempted coup and he called on the U.S. justice system to investigate.
“The other times that they have wanted to kill me the previous U.S. administration helped me,” he wrote. “From here on, Bolivar’s sword follows its libertarian path, and the energy of the light and vibrant people. And the U.S. government?”
The leaked audio recordings indicated that Leyva had looked for support from Florida Congressmen Mario Díaz-Balart and Carlos Giménez. Both have denied any involvement.
Giménez responded Thursday on X, writing that “Petro cannot continue to threaten America and then think he can get away with it.”
Petro has previously denounced attempts to remove him from office, including by armed Colombian groups and a “soft” coup via institutional processes. In one case, he said the U.S. embassy alerted him so that it did come to pass.
Colombia has long been the United States’ key strategic partner in the region. But Petro’s election as Colombia’s first leftist president has tested that relationship.
Petro has declared the drug war a failure and rewritten Colombia’s antidrug policy, long supported and funded by the United States, for example lowering targets for eradication of coca plants.
This week, Petro also halted the extradition of a former leader of a dissident guerrilla faction that had already been approved by Colombia’s Supreme Court to face U.S. drug trafficking charges. Petro said he was needed to participate in ongoing peace talks.
In January, Petro aggravated U.S. President Donald Trump by refusing to accept two deportation flights aboard U.S. military aircraft. Eventually Colombia sent its own planes to pick them up.
AP journalist Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
FILE - The Colombian and U.S. flags decorate the table as U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin meets with Colombian Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez at the Pentagon, Nov. 29, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.
The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.
The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.
The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”
The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.
Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.
The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.
On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.
Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.
“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”
Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.
Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.
“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.
Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.
Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
