Even after the phone call with Trump, Gustavo Petro sees an attack by the US military as a “real threat”.Image: keystone
After the situation between Gustavo Petro and Donald Trump seemed to have briefly defused, tensions are now rising again.
Jan 9, 2026, 11:34 amJan 9, 2026, 11:34 am
Since the USA captured Venezuelan head of state Nicolás Maduro, pressure on other South American countries has also been growing. Because Donald Trump described Colombian President Gustavo Petro as a “sick man” and does not seem to rule out an attack on the country, he is on alert – despite a phone call between the two politicians.
The 65-year-old confirmed his fears of an attack on Thursday BBC. He believes that there is now a “real threat” from military actions by the USA against Colombia. The Colombian criticizes this sharply: “The USA treats other nations like part of a US empire. In doing so, they risk not being a world power, but instead being isolated from the rest of the world.”
“Nazi brigades”
In his statement to the British broadcaster, Petro also accused US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials of acting like “Nazi brigades”. So be it ICE has now reached a point where it is not only persecuting Latin Americans on the streets, but also killing US citizens.
These statements came after Gustavo Petro and the US President spoke on the phone on Wednesday evening and had announced a meeting at the White House. After the phone call, Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth that he had experienced the conversation with Petro as a “great honor.” In the short term, it seemed as if there had been a change of course on both sides.
Trump’s post about the phone call with Gustavo Petro.Image: screenshot/truthsocial
But the way the Colombian president said about Trump on Thursday suggests that the relationship between the politicians has not improved significantly.
The phone call on Wednesday evening came after Trump had previously sharply attacked Colombia. The Republican had said the country was run by a “sick man” who loved “producing cocaine and selling it to the United States.” When a journalist asked whether there would be military action against Colombia, Trump said: “That sounds good to me.”
“The growth of coca cultivation has slowed”
According to Petro, the conversation lasted about an hour and he was the one who spoke more. “It was about the drug trade in Colombia, Colombia’s view of Venezuela and developments in Latin America in connection with the United States,” said the left-wing politician.
Asked how and whether Colombia would defend itself in the event of an American attack, Petro replied that he would like to see dialogue, adding: “It’s not about confronting a large army with weapons that we don’t have. We don’t even have anti-aircraft systems. Instead, we rely on the masses, our mountains and our jungles, as we always have.”
As a former guerrilla fighter, Gustavo Petro has been pursuing a strategy of “total peace” since taking office in 2022 and prioritizing dialogue with armed groups. Critics often see this approach as too lax.
Loud “The time” Cocaine production in the country reached a record level in 2022. Now Petro says the growth of coca cultivation has slowed. He describes two parallel approaches to the BBC: “One is about peace talks with bandit groups. On the other hand, it’s about developing a military offensive against those who don’t want peace.”
(With a section of SDA)