Noem revealed that Colombia's socialist president assured that the members of the Aragua Train needed "love and understanding"

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem explained during an interview with Newsmax several details of her recent visit to Colombia, where she met with Colombian President Gustavo Petro and several officials of the South American country. Although the leftist leader and former guerrilla had commented a day after the visit and meeting with the U.S. official that she had felt comfortable during her stay, Noem harshly criticized Petro and revealed several details about her meeting with the Colombian government.

"I would say that even my visit to Colombia with the president there were contentious. It was a contentious discussion. The meeting in Colombia lasted an hour and a half, starting with him criticizing our government for about a half an hour and talking how TDA members were misunderstood, and that they were people who needed more love and more understanding. He talked about how some cartel members were his friends, and so I told him clearly that we’ll never legalize drugs in our country. If he really thought TDA members needed love and understanding, I would send him all that he can handle so that he could love them more and see what he could do to rehabilitate these evil creatures."

Response from the Colombian Government

A few minutes after the publication of Noem's interview with Newsmax, the Colombian government rejected the words of the Homeland Security secretary, explaining that her statements about President Petro were "incorrect." In a statement, the South American country's Foreign Ministry said that "The Government of Colombia categorically rejects the statements made by U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem," adding further that "you cannot build solid relations on incorrect statements."

Noem's visit to Colombia was part of a tour that began in El Salvador, where the Homeland Security Secretary visited the notorious max security prison CECOT, built by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to house members of his country's most dangerous gangs. In this same prison, the Salvadoran government has housed hundreds of members of the Aragua Train deported by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. While there have been numerous allegations that some of those sent to this prison would not be members of the Venezuelan criminal gang, both Noem and other U.S. government officials have defended these deportations.