Gustavo Petro, a foreign policy lesson at 3:40 a.m.

Why did the Colombian president make one of the riskiest decisions in his country's diplomatic history at 3.40 a.m.? Millions of Colombians still do not understand why in the early hours of Sunday morning, through X, Gustavo Petro attacked by disallowing the arrival of two flights with Colombian migrants being deported from the United States. Such a decision seems completely irrational.

The theories trying to explain the matter are many and social networks are rife with controversy over the reason. My bet is that the Colombian president, in an early morning outburst, believed he was capable of achieving whatever he set his mind to, tapped into the most damaging part of his ego and decided to challenge none other than Donald Trump.

Petro is a true socialist, and when I say true I mean that throughout his life he has allowed those ideas to lead him to the worst consequences. For years he was a guerrilla member of the M-19, the terrorist group that took over the Palace of Justice in Colombia. Later, during his career in the Senate he defended the guerrillas, acting as a sort of political arm of the FARC and ELN. When he became president he openly said that since he was a child he had dreamed of that day. Surely among his childhood dreams was also to challenge the "great empire" and be a kind of liberator. That's why in one of his strange tweets he wrote: "You will never dominate us. The warrior who rode our lands, shouting freedom and who is called Bolivar is opposed."

Petro combines two very damaging problems, extreme socialist ideas and an ego that must weigh tons. Most probably, in his early morning outburst, he believed that this was the opportunity to unite Latin America against the oppressive empire, and also to bring about an international level name recognition. He achieved the latter, although surely not in the heroic terms he had hoped for, because what is being talked about at the international level is how he had to then back down.

If his aim was to unite the region to challenge the empire, he achieved exactly the opposite. Petro became a lesson for all Latin America on what not to do in international politics and, especially, what not to do with Trump. It must be said that even Trump acted with patience. To send back two planes when they are already in the air is not only completely unacceptable and inexplicably rude on the part of a government, but it effectively puts the national security of the United States at risk, yet Trump decided to hold off on the sanctions he had announced after Petro backed down. He could have to some extent upheld the punishment and he did not.

I am a firm believer that repentance should be embraced. If someone makes a mistake and asks for forgiveness, it is good to accept the apology and turn the page, but unfortunately I suspect that Petro's change of heart does not come from the humility of recognizing a mistake, but from the fear that his government would falter before the thunderous rejection of Colombians to his decision. The president saw the reaction of the country rejecting the danger Petro was putting them in. Colombians do not want to suffer the economic consequences of their main trading partner imposing tariffs of 50%.

In any case, regardless of the reasons, Petro became an example, for the whole world, of what can happen to a country, in a matter of hours and only with economic sanctions, if it does not properly manage its relationship with the new Trump administration. From now on, the governments of the region will remember Petro's historic mistake and will know to tread more lightly with Trump.