‘Real Threat’: Colombian President Gustavo Petro Warns Of US Military Action

Ultimate As a lot as this point:January 09, 2026, 16:00 IST

Gustavo Petro warns of a US defense force menace to Colombia after Donald Trump’s remarks, criticizes ICE actions, and cautions that US policies chance global isolation.

Gustavo Petro warns of a US defense force menace to Colombia after Donald Trump’s remarks, criticizes ICE actions, and cautions that US policies chance global isolation.(Pic: AFP)

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has warned that there is now a “valid menace” of US military action against Colombia, accusing Washington of behaving like an empire and risking international isolation.

In an interview with the BBC, Petro said the United States has long treated other nations, particularly in Latin America, as part of a US “empire,” on the total brushing off global laws. His remarks near after faded US President Donald Trump publicly threatened Colombia with doable defense force action.

The tensions escalated after most as a lot as date US strikes on Venezuela and the seizure of President Nicolás Maduro, following which Trump said a defense force operation targeting Colombia “sounds ideal.” Trump has also repeatedly issued personal warnings to Petro, remarks the Colombian leader has strongly condemned.

Petro and Trump spoke by phone on Wednesday evening. After the call, Trump said he would meet Petro at the White House in the “near future,” later describing the dialog on his Reality Social platform as a “mountainous honour.” A Colombian official said at the time that the discussion marked a 180-degree shift in tone from both sides.

However, Petro suggested on Thursday that relations had not significantly improved. He said the call lasted just under an hour, with discussions focused on drug trafficking, Colombia’s position on Venezuela, and broader US policy in Latin America.

Petro also sharply criticised US immigration enforcement, accusing agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of acting like “Nazi brigades.” Trump has considerably expanded ICE operations, which the administration says are geared toward tackling crime and illegal immigration.

Since returning to the White Condominium, Trump has over and over linked immigration to crime and drug trafficking, accusing countries such as Colombia and Venezuela of failing to attain sufficient to curb the drug substitute. ICE brokers had been deployed all the diagram thru major US cities as fragment of the crackdown.

US authorities yell that between January 20 and December 10, 2025, around 605,000 of us had been deported, while 1.9 million immigrants “voluntarily self-deported” following an aggressive public awareness campaign. As of November 30, about 65,000 people were being held in ICE detention facilities, according to data from Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

This week, tensions intensified after an ICE agent shot dead a 37-year-old US citizen, Renee Nicole Good, in Minneapolis, triggering overnight protests. Federal officials said she attempted to run over immigration agents with her car, but the city’s mayor, Jacob Frey, described the shooting as reckless and called for agents to leave the city.

Commenting on the incident, Petro said ICE had “gone beyond persecuting Latin Americans in the streets” and became as soon as now killing US voters. He warned that if such actions persevered, the US risked remodeling from a world energy into an isolated nation, adding that “an empire is no longer built by being isolated from the enviornment.”

News world ‘Real Threat’: Colombian President Gustavo Petro Warns Of US Military Action

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