The US President and his Colombian counterpart have intensified the volume of their war of words, further raising tensions between the two countries following US forces attacked Venezuela with the aim of deposing Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro from office.
"He runs narcotics facilities and cocaine factories and is not going to be doing it very long," Trump remarked.
Escalating Threats and Claims
Speaking to journalists on Sunday, the American leader hinted at similar armed intervention against Colombia, asserting the nation is also "very ill" and governed by a problematic figure involved in producing the drug and distributing it to the US."
Although Colombia stands as the leading producer of cocaine, no proof exists that President Gustavo Petro, elected two years ago, is in any way tied to the illicit industry.
A Deteriorating Alliance
The country has long been a key ally of the United States in the campaign against drug trafficking and enjoyed cross-party backing in the US capital, however, the relationship have worsened dramatically following Trump assumed the presidency.
Colombia’s drug trade is largely controlled by guerrilla factions including the Golf Clan, the ELN guerrilla group and renegade units of the former Farc guerrillas, a large contingent of whom laid down arms after a 2016 peace deal.
The President's Firm Rebuttal
When asked if armed intervention like that in Venezuela was being considered regarding Colombia, Trump replied: "It sounds good to me personally."
President Petro, a former leftist guerrilla who demobilised in the 1990s, firmly denied Trump's claims. "I am neither illegitimate and certainly not a narco," he declared.
"Trump speaks uninformed. Cease defaming me," he expressed in a message.
"If US bombs target peasants, they will transform into numerous insurgents in the mountains. If they capture me, whom many of the population holds in high esteem, they will provoke the fierce spirit of the populace," Petro warned.
From Fighter to President
He passed part of his youth participating with the radical M-19 armed organization but is not believed that he never took part in armed clashes. Upon leaving the group, he participated in creating the constitutional rewrite in 1991 subsequently becoming an influential politician. He held the office of mayor of Bogotá before winning the nation's highest office.
"I swore to abstain from using arms again ... but in defense of my country I would take up weapons once more," he affirmed.
Heightened Measures and Widespread Condemnation
The Colombian defence minister reported that Petro's personal security had been reinforced.
A segment of Colombia’s right wing opposition have allied themselves with Trump, yet figures from across the ideological divide have rejected the notion of American military action on Colombia.
Political and Financial Sanctions
Washington withdrew his travel authorization following he encouraged American soldiers to ignore unlawful commands. In October, authorities imposed financial sanctions against the president, his wife and various associates.
Simultaneously while America bolstered its military presence in the Caribbean and targeting alleged narcotics traffickers to put pressure on Venezuela’s Maduro, the US executed operations against vessels off the Pacific coast off the Colombian coast.
