Colombian minister warns of military response to any foreign ‘aggression’

Colombia’s Foreign Minister Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio has warned that her state would reply immoderate breach of its sovereignty with a subject response, successful the aftermath of threats from United States President Donald Trump.

At a quality league connected Tuesday, Villavicencio underscored that, nether planetary law, countries person the close to self-defence should they beryllium attacked.

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“If specified aggression were to occur, the subject indispensable support the nationalist territory and the country’s sovereignty,” she said.

Her comments travel arsenic Latin America grapples with the aftermath of the US subject onslaught connected Venezuela successful the aboriginal greeting hours of Saturday, which resulted successful dozens of deaths and the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his woman Cilia Flores.

In announcing the attack, Trump connected Saturday enactment the Latin American portion connected notice, describing the Western Hemisphere arsenic his sphere of influence.

“We are reasserting American powerfulness successful a precise almighty mode successful our location region,” Trump said, praising the “great dominance” of the US.

He added that the subject cognition “should service arsenic a informing to anyone who would endanger American sovereignty oregon endanger American lives”.

Parallel betwixt Venezuela and Colombia?

Trump has maintained that Maduro was the caput of a narcotics-trafficking web successful Venezuela — an assertion antecedently questioned by the US quality assemblage — and helium has blamed Maduro for causing thousands of overdose deaths successful the US.

On Sunday, portion riding connected Air Force One, Trump drew a examination betwixt Venezuela and Colombia, its neighbour and the world’s largest shaper of cocaine.

“Venezuela, it’s precise sick. Columbia is precise sick too, tally by a sick antheral who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States,” Trump said, successful seeming notation to Colombian President Gustavo Petro. “He’s not going to beryllium doing it precise long, fto maine archer you.”

When 1 newsman asked, “So determination would beryllium an cognition by the US?”, Trump replied, “Sounds bully to me.”

Petro’s medication has agelong touted its efforts to ace down connected cocaine trafficking, by destroying laboratories wherever the cause is produced and intercepting shipments.

Last November, Petro celebrated what his authorities called the largest cocaine seizure successful a decade, with 14 tonnes, worth astir $388.9m, confiscated arsenic it reached Buenaventura’s larboard connected the Pacific Ocean.

There is nary grounds that Petro himself is progressive successful immoderate narcotics trafficking, contempt Trump’s claims to the contrary.

He and Trump, however, person agelong exchanged barbs, with Petro criticising the Republican person for his hardline migration policies, his enactment for Israel’s genocidal warfare successful Gaza, and his deadly attacks connected boats successful the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.

Trump has responded by taking enactment against Petro, stripping the Colombian president of his US visa successful September and sanctioning him successful October.

Escalating rhetoric

Petro is the archetypal left-wing president to pb Colombia’s government, and his word ends successful 2026.

He has denounced the US onslaught connected Venezuela and warned that Latin America indispensable unite to debar being treated arsenic “a servant and a slave” to overseas interests.

“The US is the archetypal state successful the satellite to weaponry a South American superior successful each of quality history,” Petro wrote connected Sunday.

“What a unspeakable favoritism that is, due to the fact that South Americans volition not hide it for generations. The coiled remains unfastened for a agelong time.”

He aboriginal made notation to his clip arsenic a rebel combatant during his teens and 20s, erstwhile helium participated successful Colombia’s six-decade-long interior equipped conflict. He suggested helium would take up arms again if Colombia faced overseas attack.

“I swore not to interaction different limb since the 1989 bid agreement, but for the involvement of the homeland, I volition instrumentality up arms again, adjacent though I don’t privation to,” Petro posted connected societal media.

For her part, Villavicencio has emphasised successful a connection that Colombia is addressing cause trafficking with “rigour, sacrifice, and a broad approach”.

On Tuesday, she added that her ministry rejects immoderate threats against Latin American sovereignty, arsenic good arsenic towards Colombia’s democratically elected president.

“An offence against the president is an offence against our state and a disregard for each the antiauthoritarian processes that we person carried out,” she said.

She is slated to conscionable members of the US Department of State aboriginal successful the day.