US President Donald Trump on Sunday openly suggested possible military action against Colombia, saying such a move “sounds good to me.”
His remarks came a day after the United States carried out an operation in Venezuela, detaining President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and transporting them to New York to face federal charges.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump launched a sharp attack on Colombian President Gustavo Petro, accusing his government of producing and exporting cocaine to the United States. “Colombia is very sick, run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States, and he’s not going to be doing it very long,” Trump said.
When asked directly whether Washington would consider a military operation against Colombia, Trump replied, “It sounds good to me.” According to an audio recording of the exchange, the comments were made during a discussion on US efforts to curb drug trafficking in the region.
Maduro and Flores were removed from Caracas by US forces, flown aboard the USS Iwo Jima in the Caribbean, and later transferred to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. They face charges in the Southern District of New York, including conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism, cocaine importation, and possession of machine guns and destructive devices.
Trump’s latest comments follow months of escalating tensions between Washington and Bogotá, amid a US military build-up in the Caribbean and an increasingly aggressive stance toward Latin American governments accused of enabling drug trafficking, according to Reuters.
Last month, speaking from his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, Trump warned Petro, accusing Colombia of allowing cocaine production and exports to the US. “He has to watch it because he’s got drug factories. He’s no friend to the United States,” Trump said. In another statement, he claimed Colombia had at least three major cocaine manufacturing facilities, adding, “We know where they are. He better close them up fast.”
The rhetoric marks a sharp escalation in a months-long feud, with Trump repeatedly suggesting that countries sending illegal drugs into the US could face military strikes. During a cabinet meeting earlier this month, he said, “Anybody that’s doing that and selling it into our country is subject to attack.”
Colombia has historically been one of Washington’s closest allies in Latin America, but relations have deteriorated since Petro—the country’s first leftist president—took office in 2022. Petro has rejected Trump’s accusations, saying his government has been seizing cocaine at record levels and dismantling drug labs without foreign military intervention.
Last month, Petro invited Trump to visit Colombia to see the government’s efforts firsthand. “Come to Colombia, Mr Trump… but do not threaten our sovereignty, because you will awaken the Jaguar,” he wrote on X, warning that any attack would amount to a declaration of war. He also condemned the US operation in Venezuela, calling it an assault on Latin American sovereignty that could trigger a humanitarian crisis.
