Colombian president ready to 'take up arms' in face of Trump threats
Colombian President Gustavo Petro vowed to "take up arms" after US President Donald Trump threatened him and accused him of drug trafficking. The tensions follow the capture of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Monday he would "take up arms" in response to threats from US President Donald Trump, after the Delta Force-led operation resulted in the capture of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro over the weekend.
Petro, a former guerrilla fighter who has faced months of harsh comments from Trump, wrote on X: "I swore not to touch a weapon again ... but for the homeland I will take up arms again."
Trump said over the weekend that Petro should "watch his *ss" and called Colombia's leftist president "a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States."
Petro's M-19 urban guerrilla group disarmed under a 1989 peace agreement. He has traded barbs with Trump since the US president's return to the White House in January.
Petro has criticised the US military deployment in the Caribbean, which began with strikes on alleged narcoboats, expanded to seizing Venezuelan oil tankers, then culminated in Saturday's raid on Caracas to capture President Nicolás Maduro.
Trump accused Petro of involvement in drug trafficking without providing evidence and imposed financial sanctions on him and his family. Washington also removed Colombia from its list of countries certified as allies in the US war on drugs.
In a lengthy message on X, Petro defended his anti-narcotics policy but stressed limits on military aggression. "If you bomb even one of these groups without sufficient intelligence, you will kill many children," he wrote.
"If you bomb peasants, thousands will turn into guerrillas in the mountains. And if you detain the president, whom a good part of my people love and respect, you will unleash the popular jaguar," meaning, the Colombian people.
The Trump administration maintains close ties with Colombia's right-wing opposition, which hopes to win legislative and presidential elections this year.
Petro defends anti-narcotics strategy, asserts constitutional authority, warns against foreign meddling amid Trump-linked criticism and US raid on Venezuela
Gizem Nisa Demir |05.01.2026 - TRT WORLD
ISTANBUL
Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Monday rejected remarks linked to US President Donald Trump and accusations by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, reaffirming his constitutional authority, defending his government’s anti-narcotics policy, and warning against foreign interference in Colombia’s sovereignty.
“As for Mr. Rubio, who separates authorities from the president and claims that the president does not want to cooperate while the authorities do, I ask that he read the Constitution of Colombia, because his information is completely erroneous,” said through US social media company X.
His remarks came after the US launched a pre-dawn raid on Venezuela on Saturday, capturing its president and the first lady, who were later flown to New York.
Petro alleged that such narratives were driven by Colombian political interests tied to organized crime and aimed at damaging bilateral relations with Washington.
“They want a rupture in relations between the United States and Colombia so that cocaine trafficking explodes worldwide,” he said.
Petro added that he had ordered the removal of several police intelligence colonels for allegedly providing false information against the state, warning against reliance on what he called “fallacies.”
Reaffirming his authority, Petro stressed that the Colombian president is constitutionally designated as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and police under the 1991 Constitution, drafted after the M-19 movement—of which he was a member—laid down arms and participated in a democratically elected Constituent Assembly.
He highlighted his administration’s anti-narcotics strategy, saying it had delivered the largest cocaine seizure in history, halted the expansion of coca cultivation, and launched a voluntary crop substitution program covering 30,000 hectares, which he described as a top policy priority under his direct leadership.
Petro said security forces had reclaimed Plateado in the Cauca department—an area he labeled “the Wall Street of cocaine”—and conducted military operations in compliance with international humanitarian law, resulting in the capture and killing of senior leaders of armed groups linked to drug trafficking.
He accused such groups of recruiting minors to deter airstrikes.
“If you bomb even one of these groups without sufficient intelligence, you will kill many children,” he warned. “If you bomb peasants, thousands of guerrillas will rise in the mountains.”
‘Colombia free forever’
Petro also cautioned against any attempt to detain him. “And if you detain the president—whom a large part of my people loves and respects—you will unleash the popular jaguar,” he said.
“Any commander of the public force who prefers the US flag over the Colombian flag will be immediately removed from the institution,” he said, citing constitutional obligations to defend popular sovereignty.
Although not a career military officer, Petro said he had firsthand knowledge of conflict and reaffirmed his commitment to peace, while warning he would defend the country if necessary.
“I swore never to touch a weapon again after the 1989 peace pact, but for the homeland I will take up arms again—arms I do not want,” he said.
Petro rejected allegations questioning his legitimacy or integrity, stating that his finances were transparent and limited to his presidential salary. “I am not illegitimate, nor am I a narco,” he said.
He concluded by urging Colombians to defend democratic institutions against what he described as illegitimate violence and reaffirmed his confidence in the people, the armed forces, and Colombia’s history.
“So know that you are facing a commander of the people,” Petro said. “Colombia free forever.”
Bogotá (AFP) – Colombian left-wing guerrillas operating on the border with Venezuela vowed Sunday to resist Washington's "imperial plans" following the US ouster of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
Issued on: 04/01/2026 - FRANCE24
The powerful National Liberation Army (ELN), which controls cocaine trafficking routes along Colombia's border with Venezuela, called on "all patriots" to "confront the imperial plans against Venezuela and the peoples of the Global South."
Security experts say the ELN also has rear bases within Venezuela that were tolerated by Maduro.
Dissident members of the defunct FARC rebel army, who vie with the ELN for control of drug-producing regions near Venezuela, also vowed resistance to Trump.
Writing on X, they said they were prepared to spend their "last drop of blood fighting the US empire."
Saturday's attack on Venezuela to snatch Maduro and whisk him to New York to face drugs and weapons charges has created fears in Colombia that it could be a future target for US strikes.
Trump on Saturday warned that his Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro -- with whom he has sparred in recent months -- should "watch his ass."
"He's making cocaine and they're sending it into the United States, so he does have to watch his ass," Trump told reporters.
Petro described Washington's attack on Venezuela as an "assault on the sovereignty" of Latin America.
He sent troop reinforcements to the Venezuelan border.
Colombia also activated an alert for possible attacks by armed groups operating on either side of the border.
© 2026 AFP
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