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Trump had warned over the weekend that Petro should “watch his ass” and described him as “a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the US.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro and US President Donald Trump. (AFP photo)
Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Monday said that he would “take up arms” in response to threats from US President Donald Trump, who over the weekend captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a military operation.
Petro, a former guerrilla and Colombia’s first-ever leftist leader, has been the target of repeated insults and warnings from Trump. On X, he wrote: “I have not been a military man, I know about war and clandestinity. I swore not to touch a weapon again since the 1989 Peace Pact, but for the Homeland I will take up arms again that I do not want.”
Today I will see if Trump’s English words are translated as the national press says. Therefore, I will answer them later until I know what Trump’s illegitimate threat really means. As for Mr. Rubio who separates authorities from the president and says that the…
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) January 5, 2026
“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,” Petro noted.
Trump had warned over the weekend that Petro should “watch his ass” and described him as “a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States.”
“Colombia is very sick, too, 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,” the US President had told reporters aboard Air Force One.
The US leader also said a military operation against Colombia “sounds good to me,” prompting an angry response from Bogota.
The threats followed a shock US raid in Caracas on Saturday, during which Maduro was forcibly removed and flown to New York to face drug-trafficking charges. US forces attacked military targets in Venezuela in what Trump called a move to assert control over the oil-rich nation.
Petro’s comments mark a sharp escalation in rhetoric between the two leaders, who have clashed repeatedly since the start of Trump’s second term over issues including tariffs and migration policy. Colombia and the US are historically close military and economic allies, but relations have become strained under the current leadership.
(With inputs from agencies)
January 05, 2026, 7:56 PM IST
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