Previously, the U.S. president placed Colombia in the crosshairs of Operation Southern Spear.
On Wednesday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro responded to threats from U.S. President Donald Trump, who hours earlier had suggested that the Colombian leader would be the next to face the kind of pressure the United States is exerting on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
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“Trump is a very misinformed man when it comes to Colombia. It’s a shame, because he dismisses the country that knows the most about cocaine trafficking. It seems his interlocutors deceive him completely,” Petro said during a cabinet meeting.
Earlier, the U.S. president ruled out the possibility of speaking directly with Petro, arguing that the Colombian leader “has been quite hostile” toward the United States.
“I hope he’s listening to me. He will be next. He’s going to have big problems if he doesn’t realize that his country is producing a lot of drugs. They have cocaine factories where they produce cocaine… and sell it directly to the United States,” Trump said.
Donald Trump threatens Colombia🇨🇴, saying after Nicolas Maduro, Gustavo Petro is NEXT
Unless a united pan-Latin American front is created, a more heinous, barbaric version of the Monroe Doctrine and Operation Condor will be imposed upon the continent. pic.twitter.com/RgFzFTC1nG
— Afshin Rattansi (@afshinrattansi) December 11, 2025
In response, Petro noted that his administration, which began on Aug. 7, 2022, has conducted 1,446 ground operations and 13 airstrikes against criminal networks.
“So far, my government has seized 2,700 tons of cocaine,” Petro said, adding that he expects total seizures to reach nearly 4,000 tons by the time his presidency ends in 2026.
The Colombian president emphasized that his country has never been hostile toward the United States, “which fights for freedom and democracy,” but said he does not accept “impositions, especially those based on disinformation from people who take advice from Colombian politicians allied with mafias or from former military officers involved in serious human rights violations or illicit business.”
In September, the United States kept Colombia on its list of countries cooperating in the fight against drugs. Later, however, Trump sanctioned Petro, accusing him of being a “drug trafficking leader.”
With Wednesday’s remarks, the Republican president placed Colombia in the crosshairs of Operation Southern Spear, which he says aims to combat drug trafficking in Latin America.
Since September, U.S. armed forces have destroyed more than 20 boats allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean and the Pacific, near Venezuela and Colombia, killing more than 80 crew members. “It is not true that firing missiles at boat operators means fighting narcoterrorists,” the Colombian president said.
#FromTheSouth News Bits | Colombia: The government issued a strong warning to the international community, rejecting any attempt to use foreign military force on its territory. pic.twitter.com/bCKhrf3BNJ
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 9, 2025
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Source: EFE
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