Colombian President Gustavo Petro said he would “take up arms” to defend his country amid threats and insults from US President Donald Trump following the seizure of Venezuela’s leader.
Trump warned Petro to “watch his ass” and accused Colombia’s leftist leader of links to cocaine trafficking, sharply escalating tensions.
Petro condemned Washington’s military action against Venezuela, calling Nicolás Maduro’s capture an illegal abduction without legal basis
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Monday that he would "take up arms" in the face of threats from U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, who over the weekend seized the leader of neighboring Venezuela in a military strike.
Petro, a former guerrilla who has for months been the target of insults and threats from Trump, said 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 ass" and described Colombia's first-ever leftist leader as "a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States."
Petro has harshly criticised the Trump administration’s military action in the region and accused Washington of abducting Mr. Maduro “without legal basis.”
