President Gustavo Petro (Image: President's Office)

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro remains defiant despite escalating threats from his US counterpart Donald Trump

The two presidents have been at each other’s throats for months now over alleged US plans to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and the bombing of suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean Sea.

Tensions rose sharply last week when Trump directly threatened Petro, stating that he “would be next” if he didn’t “wise up.”

He’s going to have himself some big problems if he doesn’t wise up. Colombia is producing a lot of drugs, they have cocaine factories. They make cocaine as you know and they sell it right into the United States, so he better wise up or he’ll be next. He’ll be next. I hope he’s listening, he’s going to be next.

President Gustavo Petro and the US acting ambassador John McNamara (Image: President’s Office)

Although Bogota and Washington DC were at odds earlier over the deportation of Colombian immigrants from the US and the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the tensions escalated to unprecedented levels after September 1, when the US military sank a boat off the coast of Venezuela, alleging that the vessel was trafficking drugs.

Petro claimed that the attacks on the vessels and the threats against Venezuela were part of a “war for oil and it must be stopped by the world.”

“The aggression is against all of Latin America and the Caribbean,” said the president.

Petro’s resistance was met almost immediately with the accusation that his administration “demonstrably failed” to uphold international obligations to combat drug trafficking.