Colombian President Gustavo Petro has issued a defiant challenge to US President Donald Trump, echoing a similar taunt recently made by Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, as diplomatic tensions escalate following a controversial United States military operation in Venezuela.

Petro responded on Monday to the operation, in which US forces swiftly captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, by directly addressing Trump, “Come get me. I’m waiting for you here.” The Colombian leader warned that any US bombing in his country would backfire, saying that “the campesinos will become thousands of guerrillas in the mountains” and cautioning that detaining a president “whom a large part of the country loves and respects… will unleash the ‘jaguar’ of the people.”

A former left-wing guerrilla who demobilised in the 1990s, Petro added: “I swore not to touch a weapon again … but for the homeland I will take up arms again.

The row ignited after Trump publicly criticised Petro following the US operation in Caracas. Addressing reporters, Trump described Colombia as “very sick… run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States,” and suggested that military action against Colombia “sounds good to me.”

In response, Colombia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reaffirmed its commitment to “international relations based on dialogue, cooperation and mutual respect” but said it rejected “threats or the use of force in relations between States.”

Trump’s comments come amid broader regional fallout from the Venezuela operation. Maduro, who had previously dared Trump to “come and get him” in August, was indicted in the United States on alleged drug trafficking and narco-terrorism charges and was arraigned in New York following his capture.

The confrontation underscores a significant deterioration in relations between Bogotá and Washington at a time when Colombia, the world’s largest producer of cocaine alongside Peru and Bolivia, faces longstanding pressure from the US drug-war agenda.