‘Real threat’ of US military action against Colombia, president tells BBC

Colombian President Gustavo Petro told the BBC that he believes there is a “real threat” of US military action against Colombia.

Petro said the United States treats other countries as part of a US “empire.” This comes after Trump threatened Colombia with military action. He said the US risks changing 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”. Trump expanded ICE operations as part of what the administration says is a crackdown on crime and immigrants entering the US illegally.

The BBC has approached the White House for comment.

Following the US strikes on Venezuela and the seizure of Nicolás Maduro, US President Donald Trump said a military operation targeting Colombia “sounds good”.

Trump also repeatedly told Petro to “watch his ass”, a statement that Petro strongly condemned.

Trump and Petro spoke by phone Wednesday night, after Trump said he was will meet with his Colombian counterpart at the White House in the “near future. Writing on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday after the call, Trump described his conversation with Petro as a “Great Honor”. A Colombian official said at the time that the conversation showed a 180-degree shift in rhetoric “from both sides.”

But on Thursday, Petro’s tone suggested that relations had not improved much.

He told the BBC that the call lasted only an hour, “most of which was occupied by me,” and covered “the drug trade in Colombia” and Colombia’s view of Venezuela and “what is happening around Latin America with regard to the United States.”

Petro has strongly criticized recent US immigration enforcement, accusing ICE agents of acting like “Nazi brigades”.

President Trump has often blamed immigration for crime and trafficking in the US, used it to justify large-scale enforcement operations, and accused countries like Colombia and Venezuela of not doing enough to tackle drug trafficking.

Since returning to the White House, the US president has sent ICE agents to cities across the country. The agency enforces immigration laws and conducts investigations into undocumented immigration. It also plays a role in removing undocumented immigrants from the US.

The administration says so 605,000 people deported between 20 January and 10 December 2025. It also said 1.9 million immigrants were “voluntarily deported”, following an aggressive public awareness campaign encouraging people to leave the country on their own to avoid arrest or detention.

About 65,000 people were detained by ICE as of 30 November 2025, according to data obtained by the immigration project of the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a compendium of government data from Syracuse University.

This week a US immigration agent shot dead a 37-year-old US citizen in the city of Minneapolis, sparking overnight protests.

Federal officials said the woman, Renee Nicole Goodtried to run over immigration agents with his car but the city’s mayor, Democrat Jacob Frey, said the agent who shot him acted recklessly and asked the agents to leave the city.

Petro said that ICE has “reached a point where they are not only persecuting Latin Americans in the streets, which for us is a mockery, but also killing United States citizens.”

He added that if this continues, “instead of a United States dominating the world – an imperial dream – it will be a United States isolated from the world. An empire is not built by being isolated from the world.”

Petro said the US has for “decades” treated other governments, especially in Latin America, as an “empire” regardless of the law.

The two leaders have long been enemies, regularly trading insults and threats of tariffs on social media.

After the US military action in Venezuela, Petro accused Washington of seeking wars over “oil and coal,” and added that if the US had not left the Paris Agreement, in which countries agreed to limit the increase in global temperatures by reducing the use of fossil fuels, “there would be no wars, there would be more democratic and peaceful relations in the world. And South America.”

“The Venezuelan issue is about it,” he said.

Following Trump’s comments threatening military action in Colombia, demonstrations were held across the country in the name of sovereignty and democracy.

Petro told the BBC that what Trump said was a “real threat”, referring to Colombia’s loss of territory like Panama in the 20th century, and said “the hope of removing (the threat) depends on ongoing conversations.”

Asked how Colombia would defend itself in the event of a US attack, Petro said “he prefers it to be about dialogue.” He said “work is done” on this.

But he added: “Colombia’s history shows how it responds to large armies.”

“It’s not about facing a large army with weapons we don’t have. We don’t even have anti-aircraft defenses. Instead, we rely on the masses, our mountains, and our forests, as always.”

Petro confirmed that he also spoke with Delcy Rodríguez, the acting president of Venezuela and former vice president and oil minister, and invited him to Colombia.

He said that Venezuela “has long been subject to the interference of various intelligence agencies,” and added that while those agencies have permission to operate in Colombia, it is only for the fight against drug trafficking. He criticized attempts at what he said were other “covert operations” in Colombia.

He did not comment directly when asked if he was afraid that the CIA could carry out covert operations similar to their actions in Venezuela in Colombia, or if he was afraid that his own government or inner circles might have informants.

Maduro was captured by the US army’s Delta Force, the military’s leading counter-terrorism unit, after a CIA source in the Venezuelan government helped the US track his whereabouts.

As the world’s largest producer of cocaine, Colombia is a major hub for the world’s drug trade. It also has significant oil reserves, as well as gold, silver, emeralds, platinum and coal.

The US has said it will control the sale of Venezuelan oil “indefinitely” as it prepares to reinstate restrictions on the country’s crude oil on world markets.

Speaking aboard Air Force One after the operation in Venezuela, Trump described Petro as a “sick man who likes to make cocaine and sell it to the United States,” adding: “He’s not going to do it for a long time.”

Petro denied the claims, saying it “has always been proven that I was not involved in that.”

“For 20 years I fought against the drug cartels, at the expense of my family who had to go into exile,” he said.

A former guerrilla, Petro has pursued a “total peace” strategy since taking office, prioritizing dialogue with armed groups. Critics say the method is so soft, that cocaine production has reached record levels.

Asked what went wrong and whether he accepted responsibility, Petro said the growth of coca cultivation was slow and described “two simultaneous approaches.”

“One, talking about peace with bandit groups. And the other, developing a military offensive against those who don’t want peace.”

He said negotiations are ongoing in southern Colombia, “where the biggest decline in coca leaf cultivation has occurred” and “where Colombia’s homicide rate has fallen the most.” Cocaine is made from the leaves of the coca plant.

The policy of dialogue, he said, was intended to “eliminate violence”, adding: “we are not fools, we know who we are negotiating with.”