Trump Secretly Meets Colombia’s Ex-Presidents

Colombia’s former President Andres Pastrana talks to journalists after meeting with President Juan Manuel Santos at the presidential palace in Bogota, Colombia, Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2016. Pastrana was a vocal critic of the peace deal signed between Santos and rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, that was narrowly rejected by voters in a referendum on Oct. 2.
Colombia’s former President Andres Pastrana talks to journalists after meeting with President Juan Manuel Santos at the presidential palace in Bogota, Colombia, Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2016. Pastrana was a vocal critic of the peace deal signed between Santos and rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, that was narrowly rejected by voters in a referendum on Oct. 2. Fernando Vergara/AP, file
Colombia’s former President Andres Pastrana talks to journalists after meeting with President Juan Manuel Santos at the presidential palace in Bogota, Colombia, Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2016. Pastrana was a vocal critic of the peace deal signed between Santos and rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, that was narrowly rejected by voters in a referendum on Oct. 2.
Colombia’s former President Andres Pastrana talks to journalists after meeting with President Juan Manuel Santos at the presidential palace in Bogota, Colombia, Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2016. Pastrana was a vocal critic of the peace deal signed between Santos and rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, that was narrowly rejected by voters in a referendum on Oct. 2. Fernando Vergara/AP, file

Trump Secretly Meets Colombia’s Ex-Presidents

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According to reports, two former Presidents of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe and Andres Pastrana, recently met with President Donald Trump to lobby their opposition to the historic peace deal between Colombia’s government and FARC rebels. 

U.S. Deputy Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said Uribe and Pastrana were at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort as guests of a club member and that Mr. Trump only “said a quick hello” as he happened to walk by. But Pastrana tweeted last Friday, “Thank you to @POTUS @realDonaldTrump for the cordial and very frank conversation about problems and perspectives of Colombia and the region.”

The matter is sure to complicate an upcoming meeting between Trump and Colombia’s current President, Juan Manuel Santos. We’ll talk about the alleged meeting and its implications for peace in Colombia with Gimena Sánchez, senior associate at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA).