Are you affected by Trump? (Colombia edition 2026)

I have been recently getting this question, after Gustavo Petro and Donald Trump had a bit of a twitter feud recently, first about boats and then about the the very novel Venezuelan "invasion" by sea - and I have been meaning to sit down and write a bit about it. The only probably is that I really haven't sat down recently to do much of anything, but I think today is the day.

Don't forget to check out my previous posts if you are interested in the topic:

I'm still bullish on Colombian Pesos
I live in Colombia! Read for real info:

New Round, same as the Old Round?

My conclusion last year was that this new round of American blustering in the region would not affect us, and that maybe it was even a good sign - something about regional sovereignty and each leader actually standing up and defending national interests, something that has been significantly subsumed in the past by hegemonic interests. Latin America has great potential to contain a regional power block, but that would require regional leaders to think and maybe even act a little bit more like Trump. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery right?

https://x.com/JAntiuribista/status/2014377307507454117

So we got our first tariff threat from Ecuador this week, tariffs on electricity that is sent to Ecuador, because they don't make enough (especially in the dry season, as they depend a lot on hydroelectric generation). Colombia has responded by saying there is no need to export electricity to Ecuador, we were just doing it as a favor that started back when they couldn't get the lights turned on last year.

Now maybe you are thinking this situation has to do with Trump, and maybe it does, maybe more than first meets the eye.

Who's the drug lord now?

A lot of talk about drugs has been going on, very shallow discussions of very deep issues. Yes, this region has the climate to produce the coca plant, but I don't really think this is about agriculture - its more about "who to blame". After abducting Maduro, Trump seemed to admit that there really isn't any fentanyl coming from Venezuela, its coming from Canada.

But, probably the president of Colombia is a drug lord too, maybe. I mean, he is the president of Colombia after all! But there is just one problem, the current president is the opposition party, on his first term, after about 20 years of mostly single party rule. Which of the two parties is more likely to be involved? The guy who just got here? Hmmmm, something sounds fishy to me.

Petro denies, of course - and also named names, who are really running the drugs, and showed some of his efforts to stop them. He is working against them (I believe), but he stopped using a strategy (called Plan Colombia in the US), a "great" US led initiative where the US would buy Roundup from Monsanto, fill the planes up with the stuff and spray it across the Colombian jungles and rainforests (yes, that rainforest) and then call it "aid". Of course, we were all even more thrilled than the Americans when Trump cancelled US aid to Colombia last year.

See my translation of Petro's UN address if you are curious about this topic.

But recently, in response Petro did something very interesting, he reminded us of Gran Colombia.

Source: Heirs to the Gran Colombia

Gran Colombia, the "natural" regional power

Its not a surprise to me then, that Ecuador took some Trumpian-style shots at Colombia, their president Noboa is an ally of the current opposition in Colombia, some people may say that this political clan is quite involved in whatever goes on in narco-military back rooms; others insist that these are law and order politicians with a big heart but heavy hand. Honestly, both may be true, history is funny that way.

The internet is pretty sure that Noboa's own banana export company is a big trafficker of cocaine to Europe. It adds a little more flavor to this classic song.

But this story is not done. There are deep networks here in Latin America, and that includes more than drugs, we cannot forget also the mercenary pipeline that has been so important to Ukraine lately. This region provides resources, especially to the western world, that are very valuable to those that control the flows.

Which brings us back to Canada (or The Spider's Web, as it's known more broadly).

Sometimes I feel like this is common knowledge, its just dunning-krueger.

Where is this going?

Beyond the upcoming meeting between Petro and Trump (scheduled for Feb. 3 at the White House), whether we are talking about the future of humanity, or the rest of this post, the answer is that we are going towards change. The times they are a-changin', as someone once said. Groups of people around the world are colluding and conspiring to make sure the future is the best for themselves as possible, and probably I am no different.

Am I being affected by Trump? Not really, no more than anyone else. I have a farm (I've been farming), with fresh food, known neighbors and "things to do" that don't matter what color party or flag is waving at the moment. I'm a pretty lucky guy.

But the world is changing. And I am incredibly grateful that there are people who care about me enough to ask the question, that realize that my experience might be different because I live in another place. Its true, its very different. But luckily, so far, its different in a good way. Standing here on my mountain, I can get a pretty good view of the circus.

Freedom and Friendship