Colombian president Petro vows armed resistance to Trump threats

Tuesday 06 January 2026 - 11:50

By: Dakir Madiha

Colombian president Petro vows armed resistance to Trump threats

Colombian President Gustavo Petro issued a stark warning to the United States on Monday, pledging to take up arms to defend his nation's sovereignty after President Donald Trump accused him of cocaine trafficking and threatened military intervention.

"I swore never to touch a weapon again after the 1989 Peace Pact, but for the Homeland, I will take up arms," Petro wrote on X, referencing his past as a member of the urban guerrilla group M-19. The former rebel fighter, who became Colombia's first leftist president in 2022, cautioned that any attempt to arrest him would "unleash the popular jaguar" of the Colombian people.

The standoff escalated after Trump's weekend military operation in Venezuela that captured President Nicolás Maduro on Saturday. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump called Colombia "very sick" and accused Petro of "making cocaine and selling it to the United States," adding that Petro should "watch his ass." Asked if military action against Colombia was possible, Trump replied: "Sounds good to me."

Petro forcefully rejected the claims, telling Trump to "stop slandering me" and noting his name does not appear in court records. In a sharp retort to Washington's regional military moves, he added: "Friends don't bomb." Colombia's Foreign Ministry condemned Trump's remarks as "unacceptable interference" and demanded respect for the country's sovereignty.

The Trump administration had already taken aggressive steps against Petro in recent months. In October 2025, the Treasury Department sanctioned Petro, his wife Veronica del Socorro Alcocer Garcia, son Nicolas Fernando Petro Burgos, and Interior Minister Armando Alberto Benedetti. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed cocaine production in Colombia had "exploded to the highest rate in decades" under Petro's leadership.

In September 2025, the administration removed Colombia from its list of certified drug-war cooperators the first such decertification in nearly three decades. Despite the tough rhetoric, the White House granted Colombia a national security waiver to continue receiving US aid.

Rising tensions signal a dramatic break in a cornerstone Latin American security partnership. For over two decades, Colombia served as Washington's closest regional ally, collaborating on antidrug operations, intelligence sharing, and training forces across Central and South America.

In his lengthy X post, Petro warned that indiscriminate US airstrikes would have catastrophic blowback. "If you bomb even one of those groups without sufficient intelligence, you will kill many children. If you bomb peasants, thousands will turn into guerrillas in the mountains," he wrote. He urged Latin American nations to unite against being treated "like a servant and a slave," noting the United States had become "the first nation in history to bomb a South American capital."

Latin America's broader response to the Venezuela operation has been largely critical, with leftist governments in Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, and Spain issuing a joint statement calling the US action a "dangerous precedent" that violates international law.