President Trump and Colombia's president have escalated the volume in their verbal conflict, heightening tensions bilaterally after US forces targeted Venezuela to remove Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro from his position.
"He operates drug factories and cocaine factories and that won't last much longer," the US president stated.
Escalating Rhetoric and Accusations
Addressing journalists over the weekend, the US president threatened similar armed intervention against Colombia, asserting Colombia is also "very ill" and “run by a sick man who likes making narcotics and selling it to the US."
Although Colombia is the globe's biggest cocaine-producing country, there is no evidence that President Gustavo Petro, elected two years ago, is personally involved in the business.
A Deteriorating Relationship
Colombia for decades served as a key ally of the United States in the campaign combating drug cartels and received wide political approval in the US capital, yet ties have soured markedly since Trump assumed the presidency.
Its drug trade is mainly overseen by illegal armed groups such as one major cartel, the ELN guerrilla group and renegade units of the former Farc guerrillas, most of its former fighters demobilised after a 2016 peace deal.
The President's Defiant Response
Upon being questioned whether armed intervention like that in Venezuela was a possibility regarding Colombia, Trump replied: "It sounds good to me."
Petro, once a member of a left-wing insurgent group who demobilised decades ago, firmly denied these allegations. "I am neither an illegitimate leader and I am not a narco," he affirmed.
"Trump speaks uninformed. Cease defaming me," he posted in a post.
"Should American forces attack peasants, they will turn into a multitude of fighters across the countryside. And should they arrest me, whom many of Colombians loves and respects, they will unleash the ‘jaguar’ of the people," Petro warned.
From Guerrilla to Statesman
He passed a period in his early life as a member with the radical M-19 insurgent movement although reports indicate he did not engaged in fighting. Upon leaving the group, he was involved in drafting a new constitution in the early 90s subsequently becoming a prominent senator. He was mayor of Bogotá prior to his election president.
"I pledged to abstain from using arms again ... but for Colombia I shall resume arms again," he affirmed.
Increased Security along with Cross-Political Condemnation
The Colombian defence minister reported that Petro's personal security had been reinforced.
Several members of Colombia’s right wing opposition have sided with the US president, however, leaders from all sides of the ideological divide have rejected the notion of a US attack against their nation.
Bilateral and Economic Sanctions
American authorities cancelled his travel authorization subsequent to he called on US troops to disobey any illegal orders. Later, in October, it placed economic restrictions against the president, his spouse and several close collaborators.
Simultaneously as the US increased its military presence in the region and bombing vessels thought to carry drugs to pressure Venezuela’s Maduro, US forces also carried out operations against vessels in Pacific waters off the Colombian coast.
