In a bold statement on Monday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro declared his readiness to “take up arms” against the United States should it decide to launch an attack on Colombia, following recent U.S. military actions in Venezuela that led to the capture and arrest of President Nicolás Maduro.
Petro’s comments came in response to suggestions from then-President Donald Trump, implying that Colombia might be the next focus of his administration’s war on drugs. Petro, who has a history as a member of the M-19 guerrilla movement, which disbanded in the early 1990s, took to the platform X to express his stance.
“Although I have not been a military man, I understand warfare and clandestine operations,” Petro stated in a post, translated from Spanish. “Since the 1989 Peace Pact, I vowed never to bear arms again, but for my country, I would reconsider this decision, though it is not my desire.”
Petro also dismissed Trump’s allegations linking him to drug trafficking, emphasizing his integrity.
“I am neither illegitimate nor involved in narcotics,” Petro wrote. “My only assets are my family home, which I am still paying off with my salary. I have made my bank statements public, and no one can claim I have lived beyond my means. I am not driven by greed.”
“I am not illegitimate, nor am I a narco,” he wrote. “I only have as assets my family home that I still pay for with my salary. My bank statements have been published. No one could say that I have spent more than my salary. I am not greedy.”
Petro’s comments came after Trump spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday.
He warned that Colombia is “very sick too” and is “run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States, and he’s not going to be doing it very long.”
President Donald Trump accused Colombian President Gustavo Petro of being a “sick man” who sells cocaine to the U.S., which Petro denied. (Kevin Dietsch/Thierry Monasse/Getty Images)
Trump also claimed Petro has “cocaine mills and cocaine factories.”
When asked directly whether the U.S. would carry out an operation in Colombia, Trump replied, “It sounds good to me,” before pivoting to once again express interest in annexing Greenland.
Trump’s threats echoed remarks he made in December, as previously reported by Fox News Digital, when he warned Petro that he had “better wise up” or risk being targeted next.
Trump has labeled Petro an “illegal drug dealer” in the past and later doubled down, calling the Colombian president a “lunatic.”
Petro has been one of Trump’s fiercest critics in the region, condemning U.S. strikes on what he described as suspected drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean. Petro previously claimed many of those killed in the strikes were “poor fishermen” forced into the drug trade out of necessity.
In November, he called Trump a “barbarian” and briefly halted intelligence sharing with Washington.
Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has been a fierce critic of President Trump. (Luis Acosta/AFP via Getty Images)
Colombia’s narcotics trade is largely controlled by illegal armed groups, including the Gulf Clan, the ELN and dissident FARC factions.
Petro warned that U.S. bombing would radicalize rural communities, saying campesinos would become “thousands of guerrillas in the mountains.”
As previously reported by Fox News Digital, the Trump administration revoked the Colombian president’s visa over alleged “reckless and incendiary actions.”
“Earlier today, Colombian president @petrogustavo stood on a NYC street and urged U.S. soldiers to disobey orders and incite violence,” read a post on the U.S. State Department‘s X account at the time. “We will revoke Petro’s visa due to his reckless and incendiary actions.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.
