Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, World News, US News
The President of Colombia has stepped up the rhetoric in a war of words with Donald Trump, after he was accused of being involved in the same 'narco terrorism' that Venezuela's leader has been charged with following his abduction by Delta Force in an explosive raid.
His words came after President Trump threatened Colombia while speaking on board Air Force One on Sunday (January 4), after he described the country as 'very sick' and 'run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States'.
This is despite Colombia's leader, Gustavo Petro, previously being seen as a close ally of Washington's in the war against the drug cartels in his country - which remains the largest producer of cocaine in the world.
When asked if Colombia could face similar military action as carried out in neighboring Venezuela on Saturday (January 3), Trump said 'it sounds good to me' and, in a further shot across the bow, separately said that Petro should 'watch his ass'.
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In a fiery response, President Petro, who was a member of the left-wing M-19 guerrilla group until a 1989 peace deal, on Monday said: "I swore not to touch a weapon again... but for the homeland I will take up arms again."
The leader, who became the first left-wing candidate to be elected as Colombia's president in 2022, hit back at the unfounded claims of his involvement in drug trafficking.
Petro championed his steps to replace coca as a cash crop for poor farmers, as well as his more militant action against the cartels.
The 65-year-old pointed to his seizure of 14 tonnes of cocaine in one operation, believed to be the world's largest-ever seizure, as well as military attacks directed against the illegal armed groups that control the drug trade, namely the Golf Clan, the National Liberation Army, and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
This was after Trump claimed on Air Force One that his Colombian counterpart 'has cocaine mills and cocaine factories and is not going to be doing it very long'.
Petro responded on X: "I am not illegitimate, nor am I a narco, 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."
Colombia's president argued that Trump speaks 'without knowledge' and faces committing atrocities that will backfire if he invades the country or tries to topple his leadership.
He said: "If you bomb even one of these groups without sufficient intelligence, you will kill many children. If you bomb peasants, thousands of guerrillas will return in the mountains.
"And if you arrest the president whom a good part of my people want and respect, you will unleash the popular jaguar."
At the end, he told the Trump administration: "Know that you are facing a commander of the people. Free Colombia forever."
