'Come get me, I'm waiting for you': Colombian President throws down challenge to Trump the same way Maduro did

(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on January 04, 2026 shows Colombian President Gustavo Petro gesturing during a press conference with his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro at Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, on November 1, 2022, and US President Donald Trump gestures during a bilateral meeting with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on the sidelines of the 47th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Kuala Lumpur on October 26, 2025. (Photo by Federico Parra and ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

Tensions rose after Colombian President Petro challenged US President Trump over a US military operation in Venezuela. Petro warned of guerrilla uprisings if Colombia is targeted, while Trump accused Petro of drug links and hinted at possible action against Colombia.

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Tensions between Washington and Bogota have escalated sharply after Colombian President Gustavo Petro openly challenged US President Donald Trump in the wake of a US military operation in Venezuela.

Speaking on Monday, Petro condemned the American action and issued a direct message to Trump. “Come get me. I’m waiting for you here,” he said. Warning against further escalation, Petro added, “If they bombs, the campesinos will become thousands of guerrillas in the mountains. And if they detain the president which a large part of the country loves and respects, they will unleash the ‘jaguar’ of the people.”

Petro, who was part of a leftist guerrilla movement before demobilising in the 1990s, also invoked his past. “I swore not to touch a weapon again … but for the homeland I will take up arms again,” he said.

The exchange followed remarks by Trump after the US operation in Venezuela, in which he accused Colombia’s leadership of links to drug trafficking. “Colombia is very sick too, 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, let me tell you,” Trump told reporters. He also said that launching an operation against Colombia “sounds good” to him.

Colombia’s foreign ministry responded with a statement emphasising restraint. It said the country would “maintain international relations based on dialogue, cooperation and mutual respect” but “considers threats or the use of force in relations between States unacceptable.”

Trump had previously sanctioned Petro and members of his family in October over alleged links to the illegal drug trade. Colombia remains the world’s largest producer of cocaine, with coca cultivation concentrated in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia.

The rhetoric echoed earlier defiance from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who in August dared Trump to act after Washington raised the reward for information leading to his arrest. “Come get me. I will wait for him here in Miraflores. Don’t be late, coward,” Maduro said at the time.

Following Maduro’s capture over the weekend, the White House posted a video on X mocking the Venezuelan leader. The clip showed Maduro’s earlier taunts alongside footage from the raid and scenes from Trump’s press briefing. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth was heard saying that Maduro “had his chance – until he didn’t.”

“He f****d around and found out,” Hegseth said in the video, which quickly went viral.

US officials said the operation to detain Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, followed months of planning and unfolded rapidly, with American forces moving into Caracas over the weekend. Trump said both have been indicted in the Southern District of New York on charges of alleged “drug trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracies” and will face trial in the United States.