Colombia’s President Urges Latin Unity After Trump Threats and US Aggression Against Venezuela
By Staff, Agencies
Colombian President Gustavo Petro has warned that Latin American nations must unite or risk being “treated as servants and slaves,” responding to escalating threats from US President Donald Trump following Washington’s military assault on Venezuela and the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro.
Petro’s comments came after Trump openly threatened Colombia while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, just one day after US forces carried out a large-scale attack on Caracas and detained Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. During the exchange, Trump labeled both Venezuela and Colombia as “very sick” countries and accused Petro of leading a government tied to cocaine production and trafficking to the United States.
Referring directly to Petro, Trump said, “And he’s not going to be doing it very long.” When asked whether he was suggesting a US military operation similar to the one launched against Venezuela, Trump replied, “Sounds good to me.”
In response, Petro issued a strong statement on X, calling for regional unity and resistance. He condemned the US bombing of Caracas, writing that the United States had become “the first country in all of human history to bomb a South American capital.” Petro stressed that Latin America must come together as an independent bloc, capable of engaging with the world on its own terms rather than remaining dependent on or subordinate to Washington.
Trump simultaneously intensified his rhetoric toward Venezuela, falsely claiming that the United States was now “in charge” of the country, despite the Venezuelan Supreme Court’s appointment of Vice President Delcy Rodríguez as interim president following Maduro’s abduction. He repeated threats to send US troops back to Venezuela if the country “doesn’t behave.”
Maduro and Flores are expected to appear in a New York court on Monday on what Washington describes as drug-related charges—claims Caracas has firmly rejected as politically motivated pretexts for regime change.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Venezuelan officials to make the “right decision” or face increased military, political, and economic pressure. Rodríguez, meanwhile, denounced the US action in a televised address, calling it a flagrant violation of sovereignty. She announced the formation of a National Defense Council and declared that Venezuela would “never again be a colony of any empire.”
Rodríguez also emphasized that governments around the world were “simply shocked” by the attack on a sovereign nation, which she said aligned with broader US interests and those of its close allies, including “Israeli” partners.
Trump further claimed—without evidence—that “a lot of Cubans” were killed during the raid on Venezuela and suggested that Cuba was “ready to fall,” adding that aggression against the island might be unnecessary. He also issued renewed warnings toward Mexico, accusing drug cartels of “running the country” and demanding that Mexican authorities “get their act together.”
These statements are part of a broader pattern of threats against Venezuela, Colombia, Cuba and Mexico, as Washington revives a modern version of the Monroe Doctrine—an approach widely criticized in the region as an attempt to reassert US dominance over Latin America in line with imperial interests and those of its strategic allies, including “Israel.”
