Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Monday (January 5, 2026) he would “take up arms” in the face of threats from U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, who over the weekend seized the leader of neighboring Venezuela in a military strike.

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Mr. Petro, a former guerrilla who has for months been the target of insults and threats from Mr. Trump, said on X: “I swore not to touch a weapon again… but for the homeland I will take up arms again.”

Mr. Trump said over the weekend that Mr. Petro should “watch his ass” and described Colombia’s first-ever leftist leader as “a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States.”

Mr. Petro has harshly criticized the Trump administration’s military action in the region and accused Washington of abducting Mr. Maduro “without legal basis.”