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Donald Trump issued a threat to Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, on Sunday morning after the South American leader spoke out against the deadly U.S. attacks against vessels in the Caribbean the Trump administration has accused of ferrying drugs.
In a Truth Social posting the U.S. president seemed to suggest that Petro’s country could play host to a U.S. invasion or military campaign of some kind as he vowed that his administration would use force to “close” the so-called “killing fields” in Colombia if the Petro government did not take action first.
His remarks refer to areas where cartel violence against civilians and others is rampant, particularly in rural, forested areas where paramilitary groups like the National Liberation Army (ELN) are present. Colombia’s government has struggled against those groups in armed conflicts dating back decades.
“President Gustavo Petro, of Columbia, is an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields, all over Columbia. It has become the biggest business in Columbia, by far, and Petro does nothing to stop it, despite large scale payments and subsidies from the USA that are nothing more than a long term rip off of America,” the U.S. president wrote on Truth Social on Sunday morning.
He declared that U.S. subsidies to Colombia would end immediately, and warned: “Petro, a low rated and very unpopular leader, with a fresh mouth toward America, better close up these killing fields immediately, or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.”
Donald Trump warned on Truth Social that Gustavo Petro must stop so-called ‘killing fields’ in Colombia (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
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