Colombia President warns Trump he will ‘take up arms’ after US threats | World | News

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has warned Donald Trump he will “take up arms” after the US President threatened a military operation in the country.

Trump branded Mr Petro a “sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States.

“And he’s not going to be doing it very long. Let me tell you.”

When asked if he meant a US operation against Colombia, Trump said: “Sounds good to me.”

The comments come after the US carried out a military operation in Venezuela, arresting dictator Nicolas Maduro.

Trump has launched strikes against Venezuelan ships allegedly transporting drugs to the US.

In a response on X, Mr Petro warned Trump would “unleash the jaguar” if he attacked Colombia.

He even said he would be willing to take up arms himself to defend the country from any military operation.

Part of the statement read: “If you bomb even one of these groups without sufficient intelligence, you will kill many children. If you bomb peasants, thousands of guerrillas will return in the mountains.

“And if you arrest the president whom a good part of my people want and respect, you will unleash the popular jaguar. Every soldier of Colombia has an order from now on: every commander of the public force who prefers the flag of the US to the flag of Colombia must immediately withdraw from the institution by order of the bases and the troops and mine.

“The constitution orders the public force to defend popular sovereignty. Although I have not been a military man, I know about war and clandestinity.

“I swore not to touch a weapon again since the 1989 Peace Pact, but for the Homeland I will take up arms again that I do not want.”

MORE UPDATES TO FOLLOW…