Colombian President Gustavo Petro issued a sharp and defiant warning to US President Donald Trump, openly challenging him to “come and get me” as tensions between Washington and Bogotá escalated following the US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Speaking amid rapidly deteriorating diplomatic ties, Petro said he would not be intimidated by threats from the White House. “Do not threaten me; I am right here if you want to come,” he said, rejecting the idea of foreign intervention. He added that Colombia would not tolerate invasions, missile strikes or assassinations, and insisted that dialogue based on intelligence and facts, rather than force, was the only acceptable approach.
Petro also accused domestic political elites of misleading Colombians for decades, claiming they were responsible for widespread violence and inequality. He urged Colombians not to be deceived by what he described as political mafias, arguing that their actions had led to hundreds of thousands of deaths and entrenched deep social and economic disparities in the country.
The standoff intensified soon after Maduro’s removal last week, when Trump publicly warned Petro to “watch his a**,” signalling that Colombia could be the next focus of US pressure. Trump accused Colombia of being a major source of cocaine flowing into the United States, directly linking the country’s leadership to drug production and trafficking.
At a press conference, Trump alleged that cocaine manufactured in Colombia was being shipped into the US and suggested that Petro bore responsibility for the trade. His remarks marked a sharp escalation in rhetoric and placed Colombia squarely in Washington’s crosshairs in the aftermath of the Venezuela operation.
The following Monday, Trump went further, openly floating the possibility of military action against Colombia. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, he described the country as “very sick” and accused its leadership of enabling the narcotics trade. In an apparent reference to Petro, Trump claimed Colombia was being run by “a sick man” connected to drug production and smuggling.
Reacting to the US airstrikes in Venezuela and Maduro’s capture from his residence in Caracas, Petro condemned the operation as an assault on Latin American sovereignty. He warned that such actions could destabilise the region and trigger a massive refugee crisis, with large numbers of Venezuelans potentially fleeing the country in the wake of further US intervention.
