Marco Rubio Says Gustavo Petro Is Not a 'Very Stable Person In His Remarks' But Reaffirms Strength Of Relations With Colombia

Secretary of State Marco Rubio again criticized Colombian President Gustavo Petro, saying he is not a "very stable person in his remarks," but highlighted the strength of Washington's relations with Bogota regardless of the tensions.

Asked during a press conference why the U.S. calls Petro a "drug-trafficking leader" and whether he would be willing to go to the country, Rubio said the Trump administration will "talk to anybody" but added that Petro is "not very stable in his remarks."

"But we won't allow the actions of a president, whose term ends soon, to hurt the close relations we have forged over the past 50 years," Rubio added. "We hope there will be a chance to increase cooperation. We don't want to damage the relations we have," Rubio said in Spanish.

Rubio's remarks took place shortly after Petro taunted U.S. counterpart Donald Trump over recent comments about the justification of the country's blockade of sanctioned Venezuelan tankers.

"Texas is a territory that was invaded. It wasn't sold. So was California and all of southern U.S.," Petro began.

He was making reference to the fact that Trump demanded on Wednesday that Venezuela return assets it seized from U.S. oil companies years ago. "You remember they took all of our energy rights. They took all of our oil not that long ago. And we want it back. They took it — they illegally took it," Trump said.

Petro went on to say that a "Latin American President can't say 'give it back, it was stolen from us." "But he (Trump) can say 'give it back, it was stolen' when talking about Venezuelan oil. So let's make a deal. You give back what you stole from and and what they think we stole from them, which we haven't, well let's discuss it," he added.

Fortune noted that U.S. oil companies played a leading role in Venezuela's oil industry for decades until different governments nationalized the sector, first in the 1970s and in recent years by Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro. Compensation offered by Venezuela was deemed insufficient, the outlet added, recalling that in 2014 an international arbitration panel ordered the country to pay $1.6 billion to ExxonMobil.