As the US capture of Venezuelan head of state Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores continues to send shockwaves across the world, US President Donald Trump has sent Colombian President Gustavo Petro a sharp warning, saying he should “watch his ass”.
Trump’s words have brought the spotlight to Colombia as Petro, a prominent Latin American leader who aligns with the Left ideology and maintains an openly critical stance toward Washington. Petro famously launched an attack on Trump on US soil last September when he openly called on US soldiers to disobey President Donald Trump. “Disobey Trump’s orders. Obey the order of humanity,” he proclaimed during a demonstration in the streets of New York, linked to protests over the war in Gaza and held in the context of the UN General Assembly.
This strained relations between Washington and Bogota as the United States announced it would cancel the visa of Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro.
Petro’s statement was also considered by many in the US as a comeback to conservative US Senator Lindsay Graham’s statement that Trump was planning attacks on Colombia and Venezuela. “Trump sees Venezuela and Colombia as direct threats to our country because they house narco-terrorists,” Lindsay told CBS News.
In response, President Gustavo Petro warned the United States not to attack Colombia, stating that the Colombians won’t take it well. In a post on social media platform X, Petro said that “the Colombian people, every time they are attacked anywhere, en masse head to the mountains and arm themselves” to become “invisible like the jaguar with passionate stealth.”
Trump on Colombia’s President: He has factories where he makes cocaine. He does have to watch his ass. pic.twitter.com/ljmly4A0XE
— Acyn (@Acyn) January 3, 2026
“Don’t try it, that’s the only advice I give,” said the president, “because I know the history of my people and I am… the legitimate son of my people.”
Trump, too, issued a direct warning to Petro. On October 19, he called Petro “a leader with low approval ratings and very unpopular” and issued a warning: “He'd better close these 'killing camps' immediately, or the United States will close them for him .” In early December, he doubled down on the message: “He’s producing cocaine… so he needs to watch his ass .”
Why Colombia is not an easy target
Colombia is experiencing a period of high political volatility, with criticism of economic reforms, accusations of corruption and insecurity, and a tense social climate. For Washington, the country is also strategic: it possesses energy and mineral resources, a key geographic position between the Caribbean and the Amazon, and plays a central role in regional stability.
Despite the heated atmosphere, the likelihood of a direct US military intervention in Colombia is low. The White House seems to favor gradual political and institutional pressure: economic conditions, media strategies, and—according to analysts— indirect interference in the upcoming electoral cycle.
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Reason: a political option is much less costly than deploying military machinery in a country with decades of experience in internal armed conflict. Trump also acts as both a politician and a businessman. From this perspective, the cost-benefit analysis favors electoral and economic influence over overt intervention.
There are other reasons too. In the new political landscape, Colombia is a point of equilibrium between Washington's interests and the resistance of the Latin American progressive bloc. The last thing Washington wants now is a wave in favour of the left and wouldn’t risk acts that could help the political pendulum swing to the left.
