Petro responds to Trump’s military threats following Venezuela intervention
Tensions between the United States and Colombia escalated sharply after Colombian President Gustavo Petro warned that he would take up arms again if the US launched a military intervention against his country, following threats made by US President Donald Trump.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump suggested that Colombia could face military action similar to the recent US-led operation in Venezuela, which resulted in the removal of President Nicolás Maduro. Trump described Colombia as “very sick” and accused its leadership of being deeply involved in cocaine production.
“It’s run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States,” Trump said, adding, “He has cocaine mills and cocaine factories and is not going to be doing it very long.”
While Colombia remains the world’s largest producer of cocaine, there is no evidence linking President Petro personally to the narcotics trade. For decades, Colombia has been a close US ally in counter-narcotics operations, enjoying bipartisan support in Washington. However, relations have deteriorated significantly since Trump returned to office.
When asked directly whether Colombia could face a military intervention similar to Venezuela, Trump replied: “It sounds good to me.”
Petro Rejects Allegations, Issues Stark Warning
President Petro, responding on X (formerly Twitter), strongly rejected Trump’s accusations.
“I am not illegitimate and I am not a narco,” Petro wrote. “Trump speaks without knowledge. Stop slandering me.”
Issuing a stark warning, Petro said any US military action would provoke mass resistance across the country.
“If they bomb, the campesinos will become thousands of guerrillas in the mountains. And if they detain the president—whom a large part of the country loves and respects—they will unleash the ‘jaguar’ of the people,” he said.
Petro, who was elected president in 2022, is a former member of the leftist M-19 guerrilla movement, which demobilised in the early 1990s. Although he is not believed to have participated in armed combat, Petro played a key role in drafting Colombia’s 1991 constitution, later serving as a lawmaker and mayor of Bogotá.
“I swore not to touch a weapon again,” Petro said. “But for the homeland, I will take up arms again.”
Political Fallout and Rising Military Pressure
Colombia’s Defence Minister Pedro Sánchez confirmed on Saturday that President Petro’s security detail has been reinforced amid growing threats.
Colombia’s cocaine trade is largely controlled by illegal armed groups, including the Gulf Clan, the National Liberation Army (ELN), and dissident factions of the FARC, most of whose members demobilised under a 2016 peace agreement.
Although some figures within Colombia’s right-wing opposition have aligned themselves with Trump, opposition to the idea of a US military strike has emerged across the political spectrum.
Relations between Washington and Bogotá have already suffered severe blows. In September, the US revoked Petro’s visa after he urged American soldiers to disobey illegal orders. In October, Washington imposed financial sanctions on Petro, his wife, and several close associates.
Meanwhile, the US has increased its military footprint in the region—conducting airstrikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific, west of Colombia’s coastline—while intensifying pressure on Venezuela following Maduro’s removal.
As rhetoric hardens and military posturing intensifies, analysts warn that a confrontation between the US and Colombia could destabilise the region and unravel decades of fragile security cooperation in Latin America.
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