A Bogotá Declaration, A White House Visit: The Week Latin America Tries To Reset The Rules

Key Points

• Bogotá’s “Nuestra América” summit links sea strikes and sanctions to a sovereignty argument.
• It lands days before a Petro–Trump White House meeting scheduled for February 3, 2026.
• The test is whether a declaration becomes policy, not only rhetoric.

An “emergency summit” branded Nuestra América opened at Colombia’s Palacio de San Carlos. It is the foreign ministry’s headquarters.

Progressive International convened the meeting. The network was founded in 2020. Organizers say more than 100 participants joined.

They include ministers, parliamentarians, and movement leaders. A joint declaration is planned for Sunday, January 25.

The spark sits offshore. On January 23, U.S. Southern Command struck a vessel in the eastern Pacific. U.S. authorities said it was moving drugs.

Reporting said two people were killed and one survived. The Coast Guard launched a search-and-rescue effort. U.S. officials published video.

They called those killed “narco-terrorists.” Spanish-language reporting linked it to “Lanza del Sur.”

A Bogotá Declaration, A White House Visit: The Week Latin America Tries To Reset The Rules

The wider pattern is what alarms Bogotá. Associated Press has tracked at least 36 U.S. strikes since early September 2025.

It has counted at least 117 deaths. The campaign intensified after a January 3 operation in Caracas. U.S. officials said it captured Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and his wife. They now face U.S. drug charges.

Summit speakers argue “anti-narcotics” is becoming a shortcut for cross-border force. Washington argues maritime routes are a frontline. Bogotá’s worry is that oversight arrives late, if it arrives at all.

The politics are inseparable from timing. Petro is due at the White House on February 3 to meet President Donald Trump.

The visit follows months of friction. That includes visa and sanctions disputes. It also includes U.S. criticism of Petro’s talks with armed groups.

Colombia’s foreign minister has spoken with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The talks focused on diplomatic guarantees for the visit.

Progressive International is pushing the message outside the palace. It promoted an event at Bogotá’s Teatro Colón.

Supporters call it unity. Skeptics call it theater. Sunday’s declaration will show which it becomes.

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