Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro is considering recalling the Ambassador to the United States, Daniel García-Peña, amid another escalating diplomatic crisis triggered by an AI-generated photo showing the leftist leader and Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro in orange prison uniforms. The controversy, which erupted late Sunday, marks another episode in strained Colombia–U.S. relations under the governments of Petro and U.S. President Donald Trump.
The crisis began after Colombian news magazine Cambio published an article drawing attention to a photograph taken during an October 21 meeting at the White House between senior administration officials and Republican senators, including Mitch McConnell. In the image, James Blair – deputy chief of staff to President Trump – is seen holding a folder containing an artificial-intelligence generated picture of Petro and Maduro in U.S. prison jumpsuits. The folder includes a document titled “The Trump Doctrine for Colombia and the Western Hemisphere,” signed by Republican Senator Bernie Moreno.
Although the White House had posted the photograph as part of its official coverage of the meeting, it did not attract notice until Cambio’s report on Sunday morning. Petro reacted hours later, announcing on his social media platform X that Ambassador Daniel García-Peña will return to Bogotá for consultations.
“Here, the issue is why on the official White House page I am shown as if I were a prisoner in a U.S. jail,” Petro wrote. “That is a brutal disrespect to the people who elected me, to the Colombian nation, and to its history.”
Petro said his government must determine how and why the image was included in an official U.S. dossier, and what implications it carries for bilateral relations. He characterized the depiction as part of a broader campaign by the U.S. to discredit his administration.
The immediate fallout generated confusion over whether Colombia also intended to expel the United States’ chargé d’affaires in Bogotá, John McNamara. Cambio’s director, Federico Gómez Lara, wrote that Petro had informed him by phone that McNamara would be asked to leave the country. Interior Minister Armando Benedetti swiftly denied the claim, saying the president “never used that word.” Gómez Lara insisted the term reflected his interpretation of Petro’s statement that McNamara “should go.”
By Monday morning, Vice-Foreign Minister for Multilateral Affairs Mauricio Jaramillo clarified that “no decision has been made” regarding McNamara’s status. “The president has not confirmed that McNamara will be expelled. There is no need to speculate,” he told Blu Radio.
The folder shown in the photograph contained additional points outlining what it called the “Trump Doctrine.” Among them: imposing “selective sanctions” on Petro, his family, and associates; initiating a “comprehensive investigation” into Petro’s campaign financing and alleged foreign funding; designating “other cartels” as terrorist organizations; supporting “pro-U.S. leaders in the Western Hemisphere”; and “combating criminal, corrupt, and anti-American actions.”
Three days after the photo was taken, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) placed Petro and family members on a list of persons with allege ties to illegal activities – an accusation the Colombian leader has strongly rejected.
Petro responded by again denying any ties to drug trafficking, calling the allegations “fake news” that the U.S. government had irresponsibly allowed to circulate among its advisers. He accused the Senator from Ohio of manipulating Trump administration officials and seeking revenge after Petro publicly accused members of Moreno’s family of involvement in money laundering and other financial crimes.
“That the president of the United States accepts this type of fake news among his advisers shows total disrespect for the Colombian people,” Petro wrote. He said political actors from “Colombia’s extreme right” were influencing Washington with the goal of “destroying the government of Colombia simply because it is progressive and does not align with narco-paramilitary governance.”
Petro escalated his rhetoric later Sunday, calling the situation a matter of national security. “One of the objectives being pursued is to arrest the president of Colombia without him having committed any crime,” he wrote, arguing that he had spent years exposing connections between Colombia’s political establishment and drug trafficking.
The White House proceeded to remove the photo from its online gallery, but the image remains accessible on its server. Washington has not issued an immediate public response to Petro’s objections or to Colombia’s diplomatic measures.
The dispute comes at a moment of heightened tensions between the two countries, with previous disagreements over counternarcotics policy, intelligence sharing, and the direction of U.S. engagement in the region. Should García-Peña be summoned by Casa de Nariño, it would be the second time in a month Petro has recalled the country’s top diplomat to Washington.
As Bogotá awaits formal explanations from the Trump administration, Colombian officials say the decision on whether relations deteriorate further will rest on how the United States addresses the portrayal of Petro and the policy proposals contained in the “Trump Doctrine” document. For now, the crisis has laid bare the deep mistrust and political friction shaping one of Latin America’s most strategic bilateral alliances.
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