USA vs Venezuela Reactions

US threatens Colombia militarily: “Sounds good to my ears”

After the weekend’s attack on Venezuela, US President Donald Trump is turning his attention to neighboring Colombia.

– Colombia is also a very sick country, ruled by a sick man who likes to manufacture cocaine and sell it to the United States. And he won’t be doing it for much longer, I can promise you that, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, Bloomberg reports.

Trump was then asked if this meant the US would take military action against Colombia.

– It sounds good to my ears, he replied.

Colombia’s president, leftist politician Gustavo Petro, has been at odds with Trump for several months. He has strongly criticized the US’s efforts in Venezuela. 

Colombian President: “Stop slandering me, Mr. Trump”

Donald Trump has threatened that Colombia could be next in line after Venezuela and has accused the country’s President Gustavo Petro of being a drug trafficker and called him a sick man.

“Stop slandering me, Mr. Trump,” Petro writes in a post on X.

He further writes that Trump does not know his history and is completely wrong in his criticism of Colombia, and urges him to instead listen to his own experts who work in the country with drug investigations.

“We Latin Americans are republicans and independent, and many of us are revolutionaries. Do not think that Latin America is just a nest of criminals who poison its people.”

Colombia’s Foreign Ministry has also rejected Trump’s accusations against Petro, writing that the accusations ignore fundamental principles of international law, reports Colombian newspaper El Tiempo.

Mexican President: America does not belong to any power

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is hitting back at Donald Trump's words about US dominance in the Western Hemisphere, reports AFP.

- America does not belong to any doctrine or power. The American continent belongs to the peoples of the countries that make it up, she says.

Trump has justified the abduction of Nicolás Maduro with the Monroe Doctrine, a foreign policy doctrine from 1823. Then-President James Monroe stated that Latin America was part of the US sphere of interest and that European countries should stay away.

The president claims that they are now acting according to an updated version, the "Donroe Doctrine", named after himself. 

UN chief: Concerned that international law is being violated

UN chief António Guterres is concerned that the US's abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro violates international law, he said in a statement according to Reuters.

"I am deeply concerned about the risk of increased instability in the country, the potential impact on the region, and the example it sets for how inter-governmental relations are managed."

Guterres also said that he is ready to support all efforts to give Venezuelans "a peaceful way forward."

On Monday, the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting due to the events.