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Washington, Jan 5: United States President Donald Trump has threatened his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, following Washington’s capture of Venezuela’s leader, and said he believed the government in Cuba, too, was likely to fall soon.

Trump’s warnings on board Air Force One came on Sunday, despite a growing outcry over the brazen abduction of Nicolas Maduro, with Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay and Spain condemning the US action as a “dangerous precedent for peace and regional security”

Trump told reporters that both Colombia and Venezuela were “very sick” and that the government in Bogota was run by “a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States”.

“And he’s not going to be doing it very long. Let me tell you,” Trump said, referring to Petro.

When asked if he meant a US operation against Colombia, Trump said, “Sounds good to me.”

The remarks prompted a sharp rebuke from Petro, who told Trump to stop slandering him while also calling on Latin American countries to unite or risk being “treated as a servant and slave”.

In several lengthy posts on X, Petro noted that “the US is the first country in the world to bomb a South American capital in all of human history” but said revenge was not the answer.

Instead, Latin America must unite, Petro said, and become 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,” he said.

Warnings to Venezuela, Mexico, and Cuba

Trump’s comments came a day after US forces seized Maduro in Caracas in what Washington described as a law enforcement operation to bring him to trial on “narco-terrorism” charges. Maduro denies the allegations and critics of the US claim the Venezuelan leader’s ouster was aimed at taking control of the country’s vast oil reserves.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Trump insisted that the US was “in charge” of Venezuela, even though the country’s Supreme Court has appointed Vice President Delcy Rodriguez as interim leader.

He also reiterated threats to send the US military back to Venezuela if it “doesn’t behave”.

A lot of Cubans were killed in the US raid, he continued, adding that a US military intervention in Cuba was unnecessary because the island appears ready to fall on its own.

“Cuba is ready to fall. Cuba looks like it’s 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.”

Trump went on to warn neighbouring Mexico, saying the country “has to get their act together because they’re [drugs] pouring through Mexico and we’re going to have to do something”.

He described Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum as a “terrific person” and said he has offered to send US troops to Mexico every time he spoke to her. The Mexican government is capable of addressing the issue, “but unfortunately the cartels are very strong in Mexico,” he said.

“The cartels are running Mexico whether you like it or not,” he added.

The US president’s comments on Sunday were not his first threats against Colombia and Cuba.

Following the US actions over the weekend, Trump said that Petro has to “watch his a**” and that the political situation in Cuba was “something we’ll end up talking about, because Cuba is a failing nation”.  (Al Jazeera)