WASHINGTON, Dec 2 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Tuesday said any country trafficking illegal drugs into the U.S. could be attacked.
“Anybody that’s doing that and selling it into our country is subject to attack,” Trump told reporters during a cabinet meeting at the White House, after raising the issue of cocaine from Colombia.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro shot back at Trump in a post on X, arguing the South American nation destroys a drug-producing laboratory every 40 minutes – “without missiles.”
Trump has launched an offensive on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and Pacific in recent months, killing dozens through targeted missile strikes.
U.S. military forces have built up in the Caribbean, with tensions ratcheting up between Trump and Nicolas Maduro, the president of Venezuela, which borders Colombia.
The Trump administration alleges Maduro plays a key role in supplying illegal drugs that have killed Americans, which Maduro has denied. In recent days, Trump has flagged the possibility of U.S. military intervention in Venezuela.
Trump on Tuesday told reporters that any country that was sending illegal drugs to the U.S. could be subject to land strikes, “not just Venezuela.”
“I hear the country of Colombia is making cocaine, they have cocaine manufacturing plants, and then they sell us their cocaine,” Trump said.
Petro, who has been personally sanctioned by the Trump administration, invited Trump to participate in the nation’s anti-drug offensive, but with a warning.
“Do not threaten our sovereignty, or you will awake the Jaguar,” Petro said. “Attacking our sovereignty is declaring war.”
(Reporting by Jeff Mason, Doina Chiacu, Ryan Patrick Jones and Kylie Madry; editing by Costas Pitas and David Gregorio)
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