The US President along with President Gustavo Petro have intensified the tone in their verbal conflict, further raising tensions bilaterally following American military units struck Venezuela in an operation to oust President Nicolás Maduro from power.
"He runs narcotics facilities and cocaine factories and his time is running out," Trump added.
Escalating Rhetoric and Claims
Speaking to reporters over the weekend, the American leader hinted at analogous armed intervention against Bogotá, stating Colombia is also "very ill" and “run by a sick man who likes making the drug and selling it to the US."
Although Colombia stands as the globe's biggest cocaine-producing country, no proof exists implicating Gustavo Petro, the nation's current leader, is in any way connected to the illicit industry.
A Deteriorating Alliance
Colombia was historically a close partner of the US in the fight against narcotics trade and benefited from bipartisan support in Washington, yet ties have soured dramatically after Trump came to office.
The nation's drug trade is mainly overseen by illegal armed groups like the Clan del Golfo, another leftist insurgency and breakaway groups of the former Farc guerrillas, a large contingent of whom disbanded after a historic peace agreement.
Petro's Strong Response
In response to a query whether armed intervention similar to Venezuela was a possibility for Colombia, Trump said: "It sounds good from my perspective."
President Petro, once a member of a left-wing insurgent group who disarmed in the last century, firmly denied these allegations. "I am neither illegitimate nor am I a narco," he stated.
"The US president speaks without knowledge. Stop slandering me," he wrote in a post.
"Should American forces attack peasants, they will become thousands of guerrillas in the mountains. And should they arrest me, which a significant portion of the country holds in high esteem, they will provoke the powerful force of the people," Petro warned.
From Guerrilla to Leader
He passed part of his youth as a member with the radical M-19 guerrilla group although reports indicate to have ever participated in combat. After demobilizing, he took part in creating the nation's constitution in 1991 and eventually served as a prominent senator. He served as mayor of the Colombian capital before winning president.
"I made a vow to abstain from using a gun ... but for the homeland I would take up the fight," he said.
Heightened Measures along with Cross-Political Rejection
The Colombian defence minister announced that the national leader's protection team was strengthened.
Several members of Colombia’s conservative opposition have allied themselves with the US president, but voices from all sides of the ideological divide have rejected the possibility of American military action on Colombia.
Political and Financial Strains
American authorities cancelled the president's entry visa subsequent to he encouraged US military personnel to refuse orders that violate law. Later, in October, authorities imposed financial sanctions against the president, his wife and a number of close collaborators.
Simultaneously while America bolstered its troop levels in the Caribbean and striking suspected drug boats to put pressure on Venezuela’s Maduro, the US have also conducted strikes on maritime targets in the eastern Pacific region off the Colombian coast.
