Colombia’s president scolds Trump, saying 18,400 cocaine labs were destroyed “without firing a missile.”
Colombian President Gustavo Petro has invited Colombia to visit the country and take part in destroying a cocaine lab, after US President Donald Trump said countries trafficking drugs to the US could be attacked “not just Venezuela”.
President Trump issued a warning Tuesday at a White House Cabinet meeting, naming Colombia, which produces and sells cocaine to the United States.
Recommended stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
“I’ve heard that a country called Colombia makes cocaine. They have a cocaine manufacturing plant, and then they sell cocaine to us,” President Trump said.
“Anyone who commits such acts and sells them to our country will be subject to attack,” he said.
Petro was quick to respond to President Trump in a social media post, pointing out that the government had destroyed 18,400 cocaine labs “without the use of missiles.”
“Come to Colombia, Mr. Trump,” Mr. Petro said.
“Come with me,” Petro said, “and I’ll show you how cocaine is destroyed in one lab every 40 minutes to prevent it from entering the United States.”
Petro also warned against threatening Colombia’s sovereignty, saying this was a declaration of war that would “wake up the jaguars.”
“Don’t undermine two centuries of diplomatic relations. You’ve already slandered me. Don’t continue on that path,” Petro said, appearing to refer to Trump’s previous public claims that the Colombian leader is involved in drug trafficking.
“If there’s one country that helped stop thousands of tons of cocaine from being taken by North Americans, it’s Colombia,” Petro added.
Benga Senor Trump has been invited to Colombia and is seeking nine laboratory discussions and alliances with the EEUU and participation in Cocaina.
The missile of sin is destroyed in the laboratory in 18.400 and destroyed in the laboratory. https://t.co/8WOKnclDK7
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) December 2, 2025
Still, Colombia remains a major source of cocaine entering the United States. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, 84 percent of the drugs seized in the country in 2024 came from Colombia.
The Trump administration has sent large-scale military forces to the Latin American region in the name of halting the flow of drugs from Venezuela to the United States, carrying out missile attacks on ships in the Pacific and Caribbean, killing at least 83 people in the process.
Trump made the remarks about expanding attacks on drug-exporting countries, sitting next to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is being pursued for the so-called “Double Tap” attack in September that killed two survivors of a U.S. ship attack that had already killed nine people in the Caribbean.
Legal experts said the second attack on the two survivors clinging to the wreckage of the destroyed ship was a possible war crime, and Democratic and Republican lawmakers vowed to investigate the circumstances of the killing.
Hegseth defended the second attack, but said Tuesday that he had watched the first attack on the suspected drug-smuggling vessel in real time but had not seen the survivors or the second deadly attack by the United States.
The Pentagon chief claimed that he only learned hours later that the commander of Special Operations Command, US Navy Admiral Frank Bradley, had ordered a second attack on the survivors.
The US government has not provided any evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the victims, and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has accused the US of planning to remove him from government under the pretext of an anti-drug operation.
