Gustavo Petro makes remark after Trump threatens military action similar to Venezuela

Gustavo Petro makes remark after Trump threatens military action similar to Venezuela

Donald Trump and his Colombian counterpart have turned up the volume of their war of words, further raising tensions between the two countries after US forces attacked Venezuela to remove Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro from power.

The country has long been a close partner of the US in the fight against drug trafficking and enjoyed bipartisan support in Washington but relations have soured dramatically since Trump came to office.

Petro spent part of his youth as a member of the leftist M-19 guerrilla group but is not believed to have ever participated in combat. After demobilizing, he participated in drafting a new constitution in 1991 and later became a respected lawmaker. He was mayor of the Colombian capital before being elected president.

“I swore not to touch a weapon again … but for the homeland I will take up arms again,” he said.

    • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
      421·
      3 days ago

      If you’re from the US, then that someone is you and your fellow Americans. If you’re not, then you’d need (a lot more) Americans to get off their asses first, which I wouldn’t bet on personally. It’s gonna get worse before it gets better.

      • verdi@feddit.orgEnglish
        3·
        2 days ago

        If trump was a child heroic usanians would have shot him yesterday already…

      • jj4211@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        2 days ago

        Practically speaking, if a foreign state feels they are going to get in a violent fight anyway, they may be more inclined to take action that doesn’t require a lot of people to make some key strategic changes.

    • nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      353·
      3 days ago

      what are they going to do, invade the United States? what is a US citizen going to do? attack the vice president’s house with a hammer? shoot at him with a rifle?

      • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.worldEnglish
        111·
        2 days ago

        what are they going to do, invade the United States?

        You say that as if the US hasn’t regularly had its ass kicked in nearly every war since WWII.

        Maybe Colombia can’t invade, but history would indicate that they can probably make the US pay.

        • Keeponstalin@lemmy.worldEnglish
          121·
          2 days ago

          The wars aren’t meant to be won, their meant to destabilize and be profited off of. In that sense, they’re all successful

        • Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.caEnglish
          4·
          2 days ago

          Actually, the number of wars that the USA has outright won on its own is shockingly low. Most of the time they only win when part of a coalition and sometimes not even then.

      • jj4211@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        2 days ago

        Probably not invade, but some more targeted clandestine operations seem an actually possible outcome…