Colombian Leader Declares 'I Will Take Up Arms Once More' if US Intervenes Militarily.

The US President and his Colombian counterpart have escalated the rhetoric in their verbal conflict, increasing tensions between the two countries after US forces targeted Venezuela in an operation to oust the leader of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro from office.

"He operates cocaine mills and cocaine factories and is not going to be doing it very long," the US president stated.

Rising Rhetoric coupled with Allegations

Addressing the press over the weekend, the US president threatened similar military action against Colombia, stating the country is “very sick too” and “run by a problematic figure involved in producing the drug and trafficking it to the United States."

While Colombia stands as the globe's biggest source of the narcotic, there is no evidence that President Gustavo Petro, who was elected in 2022, is personally involved in the trade.

A Frayed Relationship

The country has long been a staunch collaborator of Washington in the campaign against narcotics trade and benefited from cross-party backing in Washington, however, the relationship have worsened markedly since Trump was elected.

The nation's narcotics trade is mainly overseen by criminal organizations such as the Golf Clan, the ELN guerrilla group and dissident factions of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), the majority of whose members disbanded following a 2016 peace deal.

Petro's Defiant Answer

When asked whether armed intervention like that in Venezuela was on the cards against his country, Trump replied: "I like the sound of that to me personally."

President Petro, a former leftist guerrilla who demobilised in the 1990s, rejected these allegations. "I am no an illegitimate leader and I am not a drug trafficker," he affirmed.

"The US president speaks without knowledge. End the false accusations," he wrote in a post.

"If they [the US] bomb rural communities, they will turn into numerous insurgents across the countryside. And should they arrest me, which a large part of the population holds in high esteem, they will release the powerful force of the people," Petro warned.

From Guerrilla to President

Petro spent a period in his early life participating of the leftist M-19 armed organization although reports indicate to have ever engaged in fighting. After demobilizing, he participated in writing the constitutional rewrite over three decades ago subsequently becoming a respected lawmaker. He held the office of mayor of Bogotá before being elected president.

"I pledged to abstain from using a weapon again ... but for Colombia I shall resume weapons once more," he vowed.

Heightened Measures and Cross-Political Condemnation

The Colombian defence minister announced that Petro's personal security had received additional support.

A segment of Colombia’s political right have sided with Trump's stance, however, leaders from all sides of the ideological divide have rejected the possibility of an invasion on Colombia.

Diplomatic and Financial Pressure

Washington withdrew his travel authorization following he urged US military personnel to disobey unlawful commands. Months later, authorities imposed asset freezes against the president, his spouse and various close collaborators.

Concurrently while America bolstered its forces in the Caribbean and striking vessels thought to carry drugs to pressure Venezuela’s Maduro, the US executed strikes against vessels in Pacific waters near Colombia.