'Will Take Up Arms': Colombia's Leftist Leader Ready For Armed Resistance As Trump Sharpens Rhetoric

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said that he is ready to "take up arms" in the defence of the country if US President Donald Trump decides to engage in military aggression against the South American nation.

"Although I have not been a military man, I know about war and clandestinity," Petro posted on X. "I swore not to touch a weapon again since the 1989 Peace Pact, but for the Homeland I will take up arms again that I do not want."

Trump seemed to hint at a military strike against Colombia. "It sounds good to me," he said when reporters asked him about it.

"Colombia is very sick, too, 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," Trump told reporters at Air Force One.

Petro denied these claims stating that he had made efforts to control the growth and export of cocaine in Colombia, which accounts for up to three fourths of the world's global cocaine supply.

"I ordered the largest seizure of cocaine in world history, I stopped the growth of coca leaf crops and began a great voluntary crop substitution plan by the coca-growing peasant," Petro said.

He also stated that he was in opposition to the cartels making and exporting the narcotic and emphasised on his actions against them.

"I have ordered bombings respecting all norms of humanitarian law and with the killing and capture of first-order commanders of armed groups subordinated to narcotrafficking." the Colombian president said.

Petro also said that arresting him would "unleash the popular jaguar" of the Colombian people and further called on the commanders of the nation's military to affirm their commitment to its sovereignty.

"Every soldier of Colombia has an order from now on: every commander of the public force who prefers the flag of the US to the flag of Colombia must immediately withdraw from the institution by order of the bases and the troops and mine. The constitution orders the public force to defend popular sovereignty," Petro said.

Colombian assets fell following this exchange.

The peso slipped almost 2% at the open, while Colombian dollar bonds fell close to 1 cent across the curve, leading emerging-market losses, according to Bloomberg. Colombian assets have already been under pressure since Petro announced a 23% minimum wage hike last month, stoking fears of inflation and budget strains for the nation.

(With Bloomberg Inputs)