Colombia President Hits Back: Petro Warns Trump Attack Would Unleash Popular Jaguar

In a world already reeling from the sensational capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, the political temperature in South America has reached a boiling point. Gustavo Petro, the President of Colombia, has issued a chilling warning to Washington, declaring his readiness to 'take up arms' should President Donald Trump follow through on hints of a military strike against Bogotà.

For a man who laid down his weapons over three decades ago, the statement marks a desperate and dangerous turning point in the fractured relationship between the two nations. The escalation began in the wake of the US military's weekend raid on Caracas, which saw Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, whisked away to face federal charges in New York. Buoyed by the success of the operation, President Trump suggested that Petro—the first leftist to lead Colombia—could be the next target.

'For the Homeland, I Will Take Up Arms Again'

Speaking to his followers on X, Petro, a former member of the M-19 guerrilla movement, made his intentions hauntingly clear. 'I swore not to touch a weapon again since the 1989 Peace Pact, but for the homeland, I will take up arms again,' he wrote.

It is a vow that carries immense weight in a country still healing from decades of civil strife. Petro's transformation from a radical insurgent to a democratic leader was a cornerstone of modern Colombian history; his threat to reverse that journey underscores the perceived existential threat posed by the new administration in Washington.

Petro has consistently rejected Trump's characterisation of his government as an enabler of the cocaine trade. Instead, he argues that his administration has been 'leading the charge' by destroying labs and seizing record quantities of narcotics without foreign intervention.

To Petro, the threat of a US attack is not about drugs at all, but about regional sovereignty. He warned Trump that any attempt to 'detain the president' would 'unleash the popular jaguar'—a reference to the fierce, protective spirit of the Colombian people.

A Warning of a New Guerrilla War

Beyond the personal threats, Petro's warning focused on the devastating human consequences of military intervention. He cautioned that high-altitude bombing or 'sufficient intelligence' failures would inevitably result in the deaths of children and civilians, whom drug cartels often use as human shields. 'If you bomb even one of these groups... you will kill many children,' he stated, painting a grim picture of a humanitarian crisis that would spill across the continent.

The President further argued that American aggression would backfire on a strategic level. By 'bombing peasants' and rural communities, Petro warned that the US would only radicalise the population, forcing thousands of former fighters to return to the mountains as guerrillas.

The War Of Words

The tension between the two leaders is not new, but it has turned personal. From the safety of Air Force One, Trump reportedly described Petro as a 'sick man' and warned him to 'watch his a**'. Following the Maduro capture, Trump doubled down, suggesting that Colombia's leadership was 'not going to be doing it for very long'.

As the US military presence in the Caribbean grows, the world watches to see if these threats will transition from social media posts into 'boots on the ground'.