‘Come get me’: Colombia’s President taunts Trump and says he’ll be waiting to see him ‘face-to-face’ as tensions rise over Maduro’s capture

Colombia’s leftist president has issued a jaw-dropping challenge to Donald Trump after US special forces kidnapped Venezuela’s dictator Nicolas Maduro and his wife on drug trafficking charges in a dramatic raid.

Gustavo Petro did not mince words as tensions rose in Latin America, encouraging the US president to go after him amid the growing threat of American military intervention in the region.

“Come and get me,” Petro said in a clear warning directly to Washington. ‘I’m waiting for you here. ‘Don’t threaten me, I’ll wait for you here if you want.’

The extraordinary outburst came after Trump hinted that Colombia might also take action as part of a widening US crackdown on alleged narcotics networks spread across the continent.

Petro, a former guerrilla and long-time critic of US interventionism, doubled down by rejecting any suggestion of foreign power on Colombian soil.

“I do not accept invasions, missiles or assassinations, I only accept intelligence,” he said, emphasizing that he was ready to confront his critics directly.

While attacking what he called deep-seated corruption within the country, he demanded ‘truths, not lies’ and accused ‘Colombian political mafias who condemned us to 700,000 deaths and made us the most unequal country in the world’.

The heated debate followed a US explosives operation in neighboring Venezuela that resulted in the capture of 63-year-old President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, 69-year-old Cilia Flores.

This photo, posted on Trump’s Truth Social account on Saturday, shows Maduro aboard the USS Iwo Jima after the US military captured him

Explosions ripped through Caracas during the daring raid early Saturday morning, as seen in the video Trump posted on his Truth Social account.

President Donald Trump, seen aboard Air Force One on Sunday, praised his administration’s ‘great’ capture of Maduro early Saturday

Maduro appeared in a federal court in Manhattan on Monday; Here scenes outside descended into chaos as protesters clashed and police were forced to intervene.

Following the arrests, Trump issued a series of ominous warnings to governments in the region, including Colombia, Cuba and Mexico, demanding tougher action against drug cartels and accusing leaders of failing to stop the flow of narcotics into the United States.

Trump clearly singled out Petro. “He’s making cocaine,” he claimed, claiming the drugs were being funneled directly into the United States.

“That’s why he needs to pay attention,” Trump said on Saturday.

But the debate did not end there.

Following Maduro’s arrest, Trump suggested the US ‘take over’ Venezuela during a transition period by focusing on the country’s vast but disintegrating oil reserves.

He claimed that Venezuela’s oil industry had been allowed to decay and said American firms would step in to rebuild it.

“The oil companies are going to step in and rebuild their systems,” Trump said. ‘It was the biggest theft in American history.’

Trump accused Venezuela of directly stealing US oil assets.

‘No one stole our goods like they did. “They took our oil away from us,” he claimed.

‘They took the infrastructure and the whole infrastructure is rotten and decayed and the oil companies are going to come in and rebuild it.’

The White House reportedly told oil companies that rebuilding Venezuela’s oil platforms would be a condition of any compensation linked to previously seized assets.

Trump’s tough stance has drawn fierce criticism, especially given questions about his pardon of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to 45 years in prison in the United States.

Asked about the controversial decision, Trump insisted Hernández was “very unfairly persecuted.”

This comes as Maduro faces what Attorney General Pam Bondi said on January 5 would be the “full wrath” of the American justice system.

The deposed Venezuelan President got into a fight with a man who claimed he was imprisoned by the Maduro regime.

Maduro responded to Pedro Rojas, who was in the public gallery, by telling him that he was a “prisoner of war” after Rojas warned him that he would pay for his crimes.

The extraordinary exchange took place at the end of a 30-minute hearing in federal court in Manhattan; where the judge told Maduro to stop the rumor about how he was ‘kidnapped’ by US forces.

It was an embarrassing moment for a man who had become president three days earlier.

Maduro entered courtroom 26A wearing a blue T-shirt, an orange T-shirt underneath and tan prison pants.

His hands were cuffed behind his back and he was released as he entered the field through the side door: his legs were cuffed.

Maduro and his wife did not accept the accusations.

Maduro said in his defense: ‘I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man. ‘I’m still the president of Venezuela.’

Flores introduced herself as the ‘First Lady of Venezuela’ and said she was ‘completely innocent’.

The court set the next date as March 17, but no bail application was made.

Flores had visible bruises on her face as she sat in court: a golf ball-sized bruise on her forehead, her cheeks red and what appeared to be a scar above her right eye.

During the hearing, his lawyer, Mark Donnelly, asked for an x-ray to be taken as he suffered ‘serious injuries’ at the time of his arrest.

Donnelly said he had ‘broken ribs or serious injuries’.

Maduro was captured along with his wife, Cilia Flores, in Caracas early Saturday during a high-risk operation conducted by the U.S. Army’s elite Delta Force.

The two were captured in their heavily fortified compound after US intelligence tracked their movements.

As Maduro arrived at the Manhattan Downtown Helipad on Monday morning, he headed to the Daniel Patrick Manhattan United States Courthouse for the first hearing.

Cilia Flores arrived at the Wall Street Heliport in New York on Monday with visible bruises on her forehead and cheek. She and her husband pleaded not guilty to narco-terrorism charges

Maduro reportedly raced to close the fifteen-inch-thick steel door leading to a secure room seconds before U.S. special forces stormed the residence.

According to CNN, the couple was taken from their bedroom while they were sleeping, with no casualties reported in the US.

They then flew from Caracas by helicopter after Trump personally authorized the mission, which was guided by CIA surveillance.

He ruled alongside his wife, Cilia Flores, and three other dominant figures: Delcy Rodríguez, currently the interim leader of Venezuela; his brother, Jorge Rodríguez; and their long-time rival, hardline Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello.