Donald Trump has said he will meet Colombian president Gustavo Petro at the White House in the near future, amid days of rising regional tensions. The announcement followed the US operation in Venezuela on 4 January which seized president Nicolás Maduro, with Venezuelan officials claiming a far higher death toll (over a hundred killed) than initially reported. Trump said he had discussed drugs and other disputes with Petro and welcomed a calmer tone, after previously issuing public threats. Petro warned Colombia would resist any US military action, even as Washington tightened control over Venezuelan oil sales and maintained sanctions on Bogotá, claiming that cocaine trafficking in Colombia had ‘exploded to the highest rate in decades’. Secretary of state Marco Rubio will help to arrange the talks. Meanwhile, Venezuela’s interim leader Delcy Rodríguez said that Maduro’s kidnapping was an unprecedented ‘stain on our relations’, but added: ‘Venezuela is open to energy relations where all parties benefit’. Meanwhile, the USA has seized two sanctioned oil tankers, one of them flying a Russian flag: see