‘Real threat’ of US military action against Colombia, president tells BBC

Colombian President Gustavo Petro told the BBC he now believes there is a “real threat” of US military intervention against Colombia.

Petro said the US treats other countries as part of the US “empire”. This comes after Trump threatened Colombia with military action. He said the United States was at risk of going from “dominating the world” to being “isolated from the world.”

He also accused U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents of acting like “Nazi brigades.” Trump has dramatically expanded ICE operations as part of what the administration says is a crackdown on crime and immigrants entering the United States illegally.

The BBC has contacted the White House for comment.

Following the US attack on Venezuela and the capture of Nicolás Maduro, US President Donald Trump said a military operation targeting Colombia “sounds good”.

Petro also strongly condemned this, stating that Trump repeatedly told Petro to “watch his ass.”

Trump and Petro spoke by phone Wednesday evening, after which Trump said he would meet his Colombian counterpart at the White House “in the near future.” Writing on the Truth Social platform late Wednesday after the meeting, Trump described his meeting with Petro as a “Great Honor.” A Colombian official said at the time that this meeting reflected a 180-degree shift in rhetoric “on both sides.”

But Petro’s tone on Thursday suggested relations had not improved significantly.

He told the BBC that the conversation lasted less than an hour, was “mostly occupied by me” and covered “Colombian drug trafficking” as well as Colombia’s view on Venezuela and “what’s going on in Latin America in relation to the US”.

Petro has strongly criticized recent U.S. immigration enforcement, accusing ICE agents of operating like “Nazi brigades.”

President Trump has frequently blamed immigration for crime and human trafficking in the United States, using it to justify large-scale enforcement operations and accusing countries like Colombia and Venezuela of not doing enough to combat drug trafficking.

Since returning to the White House, the US president has dispatched ICE agents to cities across the country. The agency enforces immigration laws and conducts investigations into undocumented immigration. It also plays a role in removing undocumented immigrants from the United States.

The administration announced that it deported 605,000 people between January 20 and December 10, 2025. He also said 1.9 million immigrants had “voluntarily self-deported” following an aggressive public awareness campaign encouraging people to leave the country on their own to avoid arrest or detention.

Nearly 65,000 people were in ICE custody as of Nov. 30, 2025, according to data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse’s immigration project, a compendium of government data from Syracuse University.

This week, a US immigration agent shot and killed a 37-year-old US citizen in the city of Minneapolis, sparking protests throughout the night.

Federal authorities said the woman, Renee Nicole Good, tried to run over immigration agents with her car, but the mayor, Democrat Jacob Frey, said the agent who shot her was reckless and demanded the agents leave town.

Petro said ICE has “reached a point where they are no longer just persecuting Latin Americans in the streets, which is an affront to us, but they are also killing U.S. citizens.”

If this continues, “Instead of the imperial dream of the United States dominating the world, there will be an America isolated from the world. An empire is not built by being isolated from the world.” he added.

Petro said that for “decades” the United States has treated other governments, especially those in Latin America, as an “empire” without regard for the law.

The two leaders have long been enemies and frequently exchange insults and tariff threats on social media.

Following US military action in Venezuela, Petro accused Washington of seeking war over “oil and coal” and said that if the US had not withdrawn from the Paris Agreement, under which countries agreed to limit global temperature rise by reducing the use of fossil fuels, “there would be no wars, there would be a much more democratic and peaceful relationship with the world and with South America.”

“That’s what the Venezuelan issue is about,” he said.

Following Trump’s statements threatening a military operation against Colombia, demonstrations were held across the country in the name of sovereignty and democracy.

In his statement to the BBC, Petro said that Trump’s words amounted to a “real threat” and “the possibility of removal”, referring to Colombia’s loss of territories such as Panama in the 20th century. [the threat] “It depends on ongoing discussions.”

Asked how Colombia would defend itself in the event of a US attack, Petro said he would “prefer it to be about dialogue.” “Work is being done” on this issue, he said.

But he added: “Colombia’s history shows how it responds to large armies.”

“This is not about confronting a large army with weapons we don’t have. We don’t even have anti-aircraft defense. Instead, we rely, as always, on our masses, our mountains and our forests.”

Petro confirmed that he also met with Venezuela’s acting president, former vice president and oil minister Delcy Rodríguez, and invited him to Colombia.

Venezuela “has long been subject to interference by various intelligence agencies,” he said, adding that although such agencies have permission to operate in Colombia, this is only to combat drug trafficking. He condemned what he said were other “covert operations” in Colombia.

He did not comment directly when asked whether he feared the CIA might carry out covert operations in Colombia similar to its actions in Venezuela or that he might have informants on his own government or inner circle.

Maduro was captured by the US military’s Delta Force, the military’s top counterterrorism unit, after a CIA source in the Venezuelan government helped the US track Maduro’s location.

Colombia, the world’s largest cocaine producer, is an important center in the global drug trade. It also has significant oil reserves, as well as gold, silver, emeralds, platinum and coal.

The United States said it will control sales of Venezuelan oil “indefinitely” as it prepares to lift restrictions on the country’s crude oil in global markets.

Speaking on Air Force One after the Venezuela operation, Trump described Petro as “a sick man who likes to make cocaine and sell it to the United States” and added: “He won’t be doing that for a very long time.”

Petro denied the allegations and said “it has always been proven that I was not involved.”

“I have been fighting drug cartels for 20 years at the expense of my family’s exile,” he said.

Since taking office, Petro, a former guerrilla, has pursued a “total peace” strategy that prioritizes dialogue with armed groups. Critics say the approach is too soft as cocaine production has reached record levels.

Asked what had failed and whether he accepted responsibility, Petro said growth in coca cultivation was slowing and described “two simultaneous approaches.”

“One is to talk about peace with rogue groups. The other is to develop a military attack against those who do not want peace.”

He said negotiations were ongoing in southern Colombia, where “the greatest reduction in coca leaf cultivation has occurred” and “where the murder rate in Colombia has fallen the most.” Cocaine is made from the leaves of the coca plant.

He said the dialogue policy was aimed at “reducing violence” and added: “We are not stupid, we know who we are negotiating with.”