(AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
Colombian President Gustavo Petro challenged President Donald Trump on Monday to “come get me,” one day after Trump said Petro’s days running the Latin American country are numbered.
“I’m waiting for you here,” Petro continued. “Don’t threaten me, I’ll wait for you right here if you want to.”
His response came after Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that Petro could soon suffer the same fate as recently-captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Trump said Petro’s country is doing terribly, just like Venezuela, because it is being run by a drug dealer.
“Colombia is very sick too, run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States,” Trump said. “And he’s not going to be doing it for very long, let me tell ya.”
NewsNation’s Libbey Dean then asked the president, “So there will be an operation by the U.S. in Colombia?”
“Sounds good to me,” Trump responded.
That did not sit well with Petro.
He said on Monday, “I don’t accept invasions, missiles, or assassinations, only intel. Come speak here with intelligence, and we’ll receive you and talk face-to-face with facts, not lies. Stop getting lied to by Colombian political mafias who condemned us to 700,00 deaths and made us the world’s most unequal country.”
Their latest comments come after the two have been trading verbal shots for the last year.
Trump called Petro a “fresh mouthed” and unpopular politician who was little more than an “illegal drug leader” in October.
The president ended all subsidies to Colombia at the same time, saying Petro had done nothing to “close up [the] killing fields” where drugs were produced.
Two days later, Petro suggested “humanity” would be better off if someone could “get rid” of Trump.
Their back-and-forth has also coincided with Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth conducting a few dozen military strikes against suspected Latin American drug boats. Those strikes that have been criticized by many Democratic lawmakers, as well as Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).
