Colombian President Gustavo Petro sat down with Trump in a closed-door meeting that lasted approximately two hours at the White House Tuesday. It was the first face-to-face encounter between the two leaders following months of tension and heated exchanges over the Trump administration’s military strikes on civilian boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean. Their talks also came a month after the U.S. attack on Venezuela and the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in early January.

After the White House meeting, Petro shared a photo on social media with a note apparently handwritten by Trump that said, “Gustavo–A great honor–I love Colombia,” with a photograph of the two leaders shaking hands and smiling. Trump took on a drastically different tone after he previously insulted Petro and falsely accused him of being a drug trafficker, threatening Colombia with U.S. military action. Petro spoke after the meeting yesterday.

President Gustavo Petro: “I told him that between free people, one cannot act under blackmail: 'Do this, or else this happens.' No, we do not act under blackmail. And I think the photos and the atmosphere of the meeting show a meeting between equals who think differently — yes, with different powers, obviously, but capable of finding common paths. That’s it, nothing personal. He did not speak to me about his businesses, nor I about mine, which I do not have.”

Colombian President Petro traveled to Washington, D.C., on a special visa after the Trump administration revoked his previous one in September, when Petro joined a pro-Palestine rally outside the United Nations headquarters in New York and urged U.S. soldiers to disobey Trump. The Trump administration also issued sanctions against Petro and his family in October.