The US President and President Gustavo Petro have turned up the tone of their exchange, further raising strains bilaterally following US forces struck Venezuela with the aim of deposing Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro from office.
"He has drug factories and cocaine factories and is not going to be doing it very long," the US president stated.
Growing Rhetoric and Claims
Addressing journalists over the weekend, Trump threatened analogous armed intervention against Colombia, stating the country is also "very ill" and led by an unwell individual involved in producing narcotics and trafficking it to the United States."
While Colombia stands as the world’s largest source of the narcotic, there is no evidence that President Gustavo Petro, the nation's current leader, is in any way tied to the business.
A Frayed Partnership
The country was historically a close partner of the US in the campaign combating drug cartels and received cross-party backing in Washington, yet ties have worsened dramatically following Trump assumed the presidency.
The nation's illicit drug economy is mainly overseen by illegal armed groups like one major cartel, another leftist insurgency and dissident factions of the demobilized Farc, the majority of whose members laid down arms after a landmark accord.
The President's Defiant Answer
When asked if armed intervention similar to Venezuela was being considered for Colombia, Trump said: "That seems like a good idea to me."
The Colombian leader, once a member of a left-wing insurgent group who left armed struggle decades ago, firmly denied Trump's claims. "I am not an illegitimate leader nor am I a drug trafficker," he declared.
"The US president speaks uninformed. Cease defaming me," he wrote in a post.
"Should American forces attack civilians, they will turn into thousands of guerrillas in the mountains. And if they detain the president, which a large part of the country holds in high esteem, they will unleash the ‘jaguar’ of the nation," Petro warned.
From Fighter to Statesman
He passed part of his youth belonging with the radical M-19 guerrilla group although reports indicate that he never participated in combat. After demobilizing, he took part in drafting the constitutional rewrite in the early 90s and later became an influential politician. He served as mayor of Bogotá before winning president.
"I pledged to never again hold a weapon again ... but for Colombia I would take up arms again," he affirmed.
Reinforced Protection and Broad Condemnation
Minister Pedro Sánchez stated that Petro's protection team had been reinforced.
Many among Colombia’s conservative opposition have allied themselves with the US president, yet figures spanning Colombian politics have denounced the notion of a US attack against their nation.
Political and Economic Sanctions
Washington cancelled the president's entry visa subsequent to he called on US troops to refuse unlawful commands. Months later, authorities imposed asset freezes targeting Petro, his wife and a number of key allies.
Concurrently as the US increased its forces in the Caribbean and bombing alleged narcotics traffickers to put pressure on Venezuela’s Maduro, US forces executed strikes on maritime targets in the eastern Pacific region near Colombia.
