Rabat – US President Donald Trump intensified tensions across Latin America over the weekend, targeting Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, and Venezuela in a series of stark warnings following Washington’s capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump described Colombia and Venezuela as “very sick” and accused Bogota’s government of corruption and links to drug trafficking.
He singled out Colombian President Gustavo Petro, saying: “And he’s not going to be doing it very long. Let me tell you,” and adding, when asked about a potential US operation against Colombia: “Sounds good to me.”
Petro responded with a sharp rebuke, calling on Trump to “stop slandering” him and urging Latin American countries to unite or risk being “treated as a servant and slave.”
In a series of posts on X, he warned that revenge was not the answer, noting that “the US is the first country in the world to bomb a South American capital in all of human history.”
Instead, Petro said Latin America must act collectively, becoming a region “with the capacity to understand, trade, and join together with the whole world. We do not look only to the north, but in all directions.”
Trump also boldly said that the US remains “in charge” of Venezuela, even as Caracas’s Supreme Court named Vice President Delcy Rodríguez as interim leader. He suggested further US military action could follow if the country “doesn’t behave.”
Turning to Cuba, Trump warned that the island nation is economically vulnerable following the Venezuelan crisis. “Cuba is ready to fall,” he said. “Cuba now has no income. They got all of their income from Venezuela, from the Venezuelan oil. They’re not getting any of it. Cuba literally is ready to fall.”
Mexico also came under scrutiny. Trump said the country “has to get their act together because they’re pouring through Mexico and we’re going to have to do something.”
He described Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum as “a terrific person” and claimed he has repeatedly offered to deploy US troops, noting that “unfortunately, the cartels are very strong in Mexico.”
Trump’s remarks follow the US-led lightning operation capture of Maduro in Caracas, which Washington framed as a law enforcement operation against “narcoterrorism.”
The move drew swift condemnation from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, and Spain, who said it sets “a dangerous precedent for peace and regional security.”
Critics have argued the operation was motivated not by national security but a nefarious desire to control Venezuela’s vast oil resources.
