Trump warns Petro that he will be “next” after Maduro

The president of the United States, Donald Trump, warned this Wednesday to the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, that he will be “the next one”, in reference to the pressure that his Government is exerting against the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro.

When asked by the press at the White House about whether he plans to speak with Petro soon, the Republican ruled it out, arguing that the Colombian president “has been quite hostile to the United States.”

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“I hope he’s listening. He’ll be next,” Trump expressed. The U.S. leader stated that Petro “is going to have big problems if he doesn’t realize” that Colombia is “producing a lot of drugs.” “They have cocaine factories where they produce cocaine, as you know, and sell it directly to the United States,” he stated. In September, Trump removed Colombia from the list of countries cooperating in the fight against drugs and subsequently sanctioned Petro, whom he accused of being a “drug trafficking leader”. The Colombian president has rejected those actions and maintains that his government’s anti-drug policy is the right one. Trump thus puts Colombia in the crosshairs of the Southern Lance operation, which he ordered with the argument of combating drug trafficking in Latin America and which has heightened tensions with the government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela. Since September, the US Armed Forces have destroyed more than twenty vessels allegedly loaded with drugs in the Caribbean and the Pacific, near Venezuela and Colombia, extrajudicially killing more than 80 crew members. Trump has promised that attacks will begin “soon” within Venezuelan territory, while Maduro has called on his citizens to unite against American threats and enlist in citizen militias.