MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Petro removes police general Urrego after alleging plot to sabotage Trump meeting

The Colombian president claims that Edwin Urrego, commander of the Cali police, attempted to plant drugs in a vehicle belonging to his motorcade.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has ordered the removal from active duty of Brigadier General Edwin Masleider Urrego Pedraza, who had been serving as police commander in Cali, after accusing him of involvement in an alleged attempt to sabotage Petro’s recent meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.

A February 11 decree issued by Colombia’s Defence Ministry said Urrego was being retired “by call to qualify services,” formalising a move Petro previewed a day earlier in Montería during a government session focused on flood response along the Caribbean coast.

“There is a general I ordered withdrawn from the police… to put psychoactive substances in my car, with the mission of destroying the meeting with Trump,” Petro said, without providing public details on where the alleged plan would have been carried out, how it was detected, or what evidence supports the allegation. Petro also suggested the officer had been linked to a November raid at the home of Interior Minister Armando Benedetti near Barranquilla, when Urrego was posted there.

Urrego rejected the accusation and said he has not been presented with evidence or given a chance to respond. Speaking to Caracol Radio, he said the allegation was based on “total misinformation” and insisted his duties were unrelated to the president’s security detail. “No one has given me the opportunity to defend myself, nor have they presented evidence… because it did not happen,” he said, adding he was considering legal action to defend his name.

The dismissal comes shortly after Petro and Trump met in Washington, an encounter both described in upbeat terms following months of public sparring between the two leaders.