"Colombia's president has warned Donald Trump that he risked waking the jaguar after the US leader suggested that any country he believed was making illegal drugs destined for the US was liable to a military attack. During a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the US president said that military strikes on land targets inside Venezuela would start very soon. Trump also warned that any country producing narcotics was a potential target, singling out Colombia, which has long been a close ally in Washington's war on drugs."
"Shortly afterwards, Colombia's president, Gustavo Petro, hit back in a social media post, saying: To threaten our sovereignty is to declare war; do not damage two centuries of diplomatic relations. Petro also invited Trump to visit Colombia the world's largest producer of cocaine to see his government's efforts to destroy drug-producing labs. Come with me, and I'll show you how they are destroyed, one lab every 40 minutes, he wrote."
"Since August, the Trump administration has escalated tensions in Latin America to levels unseen since the 1989 invasion of Panama, under the pretext of anti-narcotics operations. The Pentagon has deployed a sizable naval force with nearly 15,000 troops on Venezuela's doorstep in the Caribbean and killing more than 80 people in strikes on small boats alleged to be carrying drugs."
The US president announced plans to begin military strikes on land targets inside Venezuela and warned that any country producing narcotics and selling them to the US could be subject to attack, specifically naming Colombia. Colombia's president Gustavo Petro replied that threatening Colombian sovereignty amounts to declaring war and urged preservation of two centuries of diplomatic relations. Petro invited the US president to visit Colombia to witness government operations destroying drug-producing labs, claiming one lab is destroyed every 40 minutes. Since August, US actions in the region have escalated with a sizable naval force deployed, nearly 15,000 troops near Venezuela and strikes that killed over 80 people aboard small boats allegedly carrying drugs. The US president said land strikes are easier, that authorities know routes and locations of traffickers, and that such operations will begin very soon.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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