Woman held in Bogotá trying to smuggle drugs into police station

A 61-year-old woman was arrested in Usme south of Bogotá, after she tried to smuggle marijuana hidden in eggs into the local police station, Bogotá's Radio Santa Fe reported on 31 January. The woman was visiting an inmate being held at the station, but guards inspecting food she had brought him noticed some of the eggs with her were not intact. Bogotá police colonel Norberto Caro said they were found to have "a substance with characteristics similar to marijuana." The woman was detained for questioning.

Colombian, U.S. presidents hold "surprisingly friendly" meeting

Colombia's President Gustavo Petro, a former Marxist, met with the Republican U.S. President Donald J. Trump in the White House on 3 February, in a cordial meeting that seemed to dissipate months of mutual animosity. CNN listed a history of spats and incidents in the first year of the second Trump presidency, including Trump calling Petro sick, a thug and a "bad guy," having his U.S. visa revoked and threatening to move against Colombia as the United States did with Venezuela in January. Colombia was for decades a key strategic ally of the United States, until Petro and Trump coincided as leaders. Trump has repeatedly accused Colombia - and Mexico - of making paltry efforts to fight drug trafficking into the United States. Drugs were one issue discussed at the private meeting, attended by senior officials of both countries, with Petro observing that key drug kingpins were not in Colombia but abroad, in places like Madrid or Dubai where they should be sought. Petro provided him with highlights of what his country had done in this field between 2022 and 2026, Colombia's Blu Radio reported on 4 February. This included confiscating over 3,100 tonnes of cocaine in various forms to deprive the cartels of U.S. $92 billion's worth of revenues, destroying over 18,500 drug laboratories and a range of police and military operations that had struck numerous targets. The cost to Colombia included 360 Colombian agents being injured or killed in the process. Trump now said Petro was terrific.