President Trump and his Colombian counterpart have intensified the tone of their war of words, further raising tensions between the two countries after American military units targeted Venezuela to remove Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro from power.
"He has narcotics facilities and processing labs and is not going to be doing it very long," Trump added.
Growing Rhetoric and Accusations
Addressing journalists on Sunday, the US president threatened comparable use of force against Bogotá, asserting the nation is “very sick too” and led by an unwell individual involved in producing the drug and trafficking it to the US."
Although Colombia is the world’s largest producer of cocaine, there is no evidence implicating Gustavo Petro, the nation's current leader, is personally connected to the business.
A Frayed Alliance
This nation was historically a key ally of the United States in the struggle against narcotics trade and benefited from wide political approval from American politicians, but relations have worsened significantly since Trump was elected.
Colombia’s drug trade is largely controlled by guerrilla factions such as the Clan del Golfo, the ELN guerrilla group and renegade units of the demobilized Farc, most of its former fighters demobilised subsequent to a 2016 peace deal.
Petro's Strong Answer
When asked whether armed intervention similar to Venezuela was a possibility regarding Colombia, Trump said: "That seems like a good idea to me."
The Colombian leader, a former leftist guerrilla who demobilised in the 1990s, rejected these allegations. "I am not an illegitimate leader and certainly not involved in narcotics," he declared.
"He comments uninformed. End the false accusations," he wrote online.
"If they [the US] bomb rural communities, they will transform into a multitude of fighters across the countryside. And if they detain the nation's leader, whom a large part of the population admires and supports, they will provoke the fierce spirit of the populace," the president cautioned.
From Fighter to Leader
He passed some years as a young man participating with the radical M-19 guerrilla group but is not believed that he never engaged in fighting. Upon leaving the group, he was involved in writing a new constitution in 1991 and eventually served as an influential politician. He was mayor of Bogotá before winning president.
"I pledged to abstain from using a gun ... but for the homeland I shall resume weapons once more," he vowed.
Heightened Measures along with Cross-Political Opposition
The Colombian defence minister announced that the national leader's protection team had been reinforced.
Many among Colombia’s conservative opposition have allied themselves with the US president, yet figures spanning the political spectrum have condemned the notion of American military action on Colombia.
Political and Economic Sanctions
American authorities cancelled the president's entry visa subsequent to he urged US troops to ignore any illegal orders. In October, authorities imposed asset freezes on Petro, the first lady and various key allies.
Simultaneously the US was building up its troop levels in the region and bombing suspected drug boats to pressure Venezuela’s Maduro, US forces executed attacks against vessels in the eastern Pacific region adjacent to Colombia.
