Gustavo Petro to meet President Trump at the White House on Feb. 3

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro is scheduled to meet President Trump at the White House on Feb. 3, in a visit arranged after a period of heightened tensions between the two leaders, diplomats said. The meeting is meant to de-escalate those tensions and to address cooperation on issues such as “the fight against transnational organized crime, especially on the border,” according to Colombia’s foreign ministry.

The visit follows a phase in which Mr. Trump had threatened Mr. Petro with military action and later eased that posture, diplomats said. Mr. Petro had been focusing publicly on combating groups involved in the drug trade ahead of the visit, but days before the meeting he renewed sharp criticisms of Mr.

Trump, calling attention to what he described as “genocide in Gaza,” criticizing the mistreatment of migrants in the United States and saying that Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, had been “kidnapped” by the United States and should be returned to Venezuela to stand trial — remarks that alarmed his advisers.

Mr. Petro called on Colombians to take to the streets on the day he meets Mr. Trump, and both Colombian and U.S. officials said the meeting was expected to be private. Experts and advisers warn both presidents are unpredictable. “In a word, they’re unpredictable,” said Julio Londoño Paredes, a retired diplomat.

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