President Donald Trump just got a “terse warning” on Monday from a South American leader following the military intervention in Venezuela and capture of President Nicolás Maduro.
Trump has said that Colombia is run “by a sick man” and has signaled an interest in attacking and invading the country, along with Cuba, Greenland and Mexico. Trump has claimed that Colombia is not doing enough to combat narcotics.
In response, Colombia’s president Gustavo Petro didn’t hold back.
“Gustavo Petro, really not mincing his words today in a lengthy and quite fiery post on X, essentially warning President Trump off of even contemplating the idea of some kind of U.S. military intervention here in Colombia,” said Clarissa Ward, chief international correspondent, told CNN anchor Kasie Hunt.
“He talked about the fact that despite his renouncing of weapons as part of his past, he was a former guerrilla, that he would be willing to pick up arms again to defend his homeland. And he warned President Trump that if there was some kind of U.S. military intervention, that you would see a large and fiery response on the streets throughout Colombia from ordinary people, writing, ‘if you arrest a president who a good part of my people want and respect, you will unleash a popular jaguar.’ So a very strong and frankly terse warning to President Trump.”
Colombia has increased its military presence along the Venezuelan border and has added 30,000 more troops.
“But I would say, Kasie, we’ve been also talking to people in the presidential office, and CNN has also spoken to the defense minister, Pedro Sanchez, who are really trying to tamp down the rhetoric here, who are saying that the cooperation in terms of law enforcement continues between the U.S. and Colombia,” Ward added. “Colombia continues to be the U.S.’s most important strategic ally in terms of its counter-narcotics strategy. For the past four decades, and that cooperation is continuing. We heard a sort of similar tone from Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, who pretty much seemed to brush off President Trump’s warning that Mexico should, ‘get its act together,’ saying, ‘listen, that’s just the way he talks.’”
Whether Trump is serious about further military action or not, Colombia has prepared to heighten its security and vehemently opposes U.S. interference.
“But nonetheless, there is clearly very real concern throughout this region, because what we saw take place over the course of the last few days was very shocking to many,” Ward said. “And U.S. meddling and military intervention is anathema to so many countries in this region because of the history of the last few decades. So we also heard there was another post that I thought was interesting from President Petro, where he said, ‘Don’t just think Latin America is a nest of criminals poisoning your people. Respect us and read your history again.’”
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