After the United States forces recently carried out a raid in Venezuela and captured its leader Nicolas Maduro, Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has said that he believed there was now a “real threat” of American military action against his country.
Speaking to the BBC, Petro said Washington was treating other nations as part of a US “empire”.
His remarks came after US President Donald Trump said a military operation in Colombia “sounds good” in the wake of strikes on Venezuela and the seizure of Maduro.
Petro said that the US risked transforming from “dominating the world” to becoming “isolated from the world”.
He also accused US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents of acting like “Nazi brigades”.
President Petro raises alarm after Trump says operation in South American country ‘sounds good’
Trump has significantly expanded ICE operations as part of what the administration says is a crackdown on crime and immigrants who illegally entered the US.
The BBC has approached the White House for comment.
Trump has also repeatedly told Petro to “watch his a..”, remarks the Colombian president strongly condemned.
Change in tone
Trump and Petro spoke by phone on Wednesday evening, after which US president said he would meet his Colombian counterpart at the White House in the “near future”.
Writing on his Truth Social platform late on Wednesday after the call, Trump described his conversation with Petro as a “Great Honour”.
A Colombian official said at the time that the conversation had reflected a 180-degree shift in rhetoric “from both sides”.
But on Thursday, Petro’s tone suggested relations had not significantly improved.
He told the BBC the call lasted just under an hour, “most of it occupied by me”, covered “drug trafficking Colombia”, his country’s view on Venezuela and “what is happening around Latin America regarding the United States”.
Trump has accused countries like Colombia and Venezuela of not doing enough to tackle drug-trafficking.
The US has conducted more than 30 strikes in recent months on vessels that the Washington says were being used for drug trafficking in the Caribbean and the Pacific, killing more than 110 people.
Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in an interview that aired on Thursday night that after targeting drug trafficking by water “we are going to start now hitting land”, adding that “the cartels are running Mexico”.
Trump has often blamed immigration for crime and trafficking in the US, using it to justify large-scale enforcement operations.
Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2026
