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‘Come get me, I’m waiting for you’: Colombian President Petro dares Trump after US threatens military operation

US Colombia tensions: Months before his capture by the US military, Venezuelan leader Maduro had also dared Trump in a speech and taunted the US administration to come and capture him.

4 min readJan 7, 2026 05:14 PM IST First published on: Jan 6, 2026 at 07:02 PM IST
Colombia US relations: Donald Trump-US. petro dares trumpColombia US relations: Colombian President Gustavo Petro and US President Donald Trump. (AP/Reuters photo)

Colombia US relations news: After the US military launched its operation against Venezuela and captured its deposed leader Nicolas Maduro last week, tensions have soared between US President Donald Trump and Colombian President Gustavo Petro as the latter dared the Republican leader in a statement saying, “Come get me, I am waiting for you.”

The development comes as US President Donald Trump earlier threatened a similar action against Colombia, saying that the South American country is “very sick too”.

What Trump has said

The Republican leader, targeting Colombian leader said, “Colombia is run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States.” The US president added, “Petro has cocaine mills and cocaine factories and is not going to be doing it very long.”

In a post on X, Gustavo called out the Trump administration and wrote, “As for Mr. Rubio, who separates the president’s authorities and says that the president does not want to collaborate while the authorities do; I request that he read the Constitution of Colombia because his information is completely wrong, it is the product of interests of Colombian politicians linked familially or commercially to the mafia, who want the breakup of relations between the US and Colombia so that cocaine narcotrafficking explodes in the world.”

Though Colombia is the world’s largest producer of cocaine, there isn’t any evidence, as Trump claims, that President Petro, who was elected in 2022, is involved in illegal drug business. Colombia has been a partner of the US in fighting against drug trafficking but the relations between the two countries have dramatically changed after Trump took office last year.

‘I will take up arms again’

Petro, who was the mayor of Bogota before being elected president, reportedly said, “I swore not to touch a weapon again…but for the homeland I will take up arms again…Come get me. I’m waiting for you here. Don’t threaten me, I’ll wait for you right here if you want to.”

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The United States revoked Petro’s visa in September last year after the Colombian president urged the American soldiers to disobey illegal orders. The Trump administration, continuing its crackdown against the Colombian leader, imposed financial sanctions in October against Petro, his wife and several of his close aides, The Guardian reported.

Maduro issued similar warning

Months before his capture by the US military, the 63-year-old Venezuelan leader had dared President Trump in a fiery speech and taunted the US administration to come and capture him. In a speech in August, Nicolas Maduro had said, “Come get me. I will wait for him here in Miraflores. Don’t be late, coward.”

Hours after the US military’s dramatic capture of Maduro last week, the White House mocked the deposed Venezuelan leader and released a video with visuals of Maduro delivering the speech. The video also featured US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth saying, “Nicolas Maduro had his chance until he didn’t; he f’ed around, and he found out.”

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