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.”

The Trump administration on Friday (October 24, 2025) imposed sanctions on Colombian President Gustavo Petro, his family and a member of his government over accusations of involvement in the global drug trade.

The U.S. Treasury Department leveled the penalties against Mr. Petro; his wife, Veronica del Socorro Alcocer Garcia; his son, Nicolas Fernando Petro Burgos; and Colombian Interior Minister Armando Alberto Benedetti.

Mr. Petro “has allowed drug cartels to flourish and refused to stop this activity,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. “President Trump is taking strong action to protect our nation.”

The move comes amid deadly U.S. strikes on alleged drug-carrying boats off South America.

“Combating drug trafficking effectively for decades brings me this measure from the government of the society we helped so much to stop its use of cocaine,” Mr. Petro wrote on X. “Quite a paradox, but not one step back and never on our knees.”