Colombian President Gustavo Petro Dares Trump As US-Colombia Tensions Escalate After Venezuela Operation | World News

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has issued a defiant challenge to US President Donald Trump, echoing a similar taunt recently made by Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, as diplomatic tensions rise following a controversial US military operation in Venezuela.

Petro responded to the operation on Monday in which US forces quickly captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, by addressing Trump directly: “Come and get me. I’m waiting for you here.” The Colombian leader warned that any US bombing in his country would backfire, saying “the campesinos would turn into thousands of guerrillas in the mountains” and warned that “the arrest of a president whom most of the country loves and respects will unleash the people’s ‘jaguar’.”

Petro, a former left-wing guerrilla who was demobilized in the 1990s, added: “I swore I would never touch a gun again… but I will take up arms again for the homeland.”

The debate flared after Trump publicly criticized Petro following the US operation in Caracas. Speaking to reporters, Trump described Colombia as “very sick… run by a sick man who likes to make cocaine and sell it to the United States” and suggested that military action against Colombia “does me good.”

In response, Colombia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated its commitment to “international relations based on dialogue, cooperation and mutual respect” but said it rejected “threats or the use of force in relations between States.”

Trump’s comments came at a time when the regional effects of the Venezuela operation were increasing. Maduro, who had previously dared Trump to “come and get him” in August, was accused of drug trafficking and narco-terrorism in the USA and was taken to court in New York after his capture.

The conflict underscores a serious deterioration in relations between Bogotá and Washington at a time when Peru and Bolivia, as well as Colombia, the world’s largest cocaine producer, face long-standing pressure from the US drug war agenda.