Trump Raises the Tone against Maduro: ‘If He Plays Tough, It’ll Be the Last Time He’ll Ever Be Able To’
The U.S. president also stokes discord with Petro: "He's no friend to the United States […] He's gotta watch his ass.”
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump raised the tone of his attacks against his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro: “If he plays tough, it'll be the last time he'll ever be able to,” he warned, in response to a question from a reporter who asked what he thought about a possible response from Maduro to the increasing pressure on Caracas from Washington. The U.S. president last week announced a “total and complete blockade” of oil tankers sanctioned by Washington coming to and leaving from Venezuela.
This announcement cleared up the few remaining doubts about Washington’s interest in the South American country’s petroleum and made an official change in strategy that seems destined to see the fall of the Chavist regime: from a so-called war on drugs, which has resulted in over a hundred extrajudicial killings of crew members of so-called drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific, to the harassment of oil tankers: three to date. Trump added that it would be “smart” for Maduro to step down, “but again, we’re gonna find out.”
As well as his attack on Maduro, Trump added more fuel to the fire of his tense relationship with Colombian President Gustavo Petro. At a press conference in his Mar-a-Lago mansion, the Republican leader pointed out that the left-wing leader is “a very bad guy” and that “he’s no friend to the United States,” in reference to cocaine trafficking which, according to him, the Colombian head of state allows.
“[H]e’s gotta watch his ass because he makes cocaine […] We love the Colombian people, but their new leader is a troublemaker. He’d better close those cocaine factories. […] We know where they are,” said Trump, who spoke about three in particular.
The barrage against Petro came after Trump heard him mention this at a government event at the end of last week, when he said that if Trump was ready to reclaim the territory that he claims was stolen from the U.S. in Venezuela, he should be willing to give Texas and California back to Mexico.
“A Latin American president can’t say ‘give it back, it was stolen from us’, but he (Trump) can say ‘give it back, it was stolen’ when talking about Venezuelan oil.” He then proposed using both the territories of those states and Venezuelan hydrocarbons as objects of a “dialogue-based” negotiation, instead of the intimidations that have been seen in the Caribbean Sea in recent months.
Rubio’s Message
The tone of Trump’s warning was very similar to that of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio last weekend at another press conference in which he specifically focused his criticism on Petro. He was asked how the U.S.' relationship with Colombia would be affected if a left-wing candidate won the presidency again. The Florida Republican highlighted Colombia’s democratic tradition and stated that what matters is the winner’s willingness to cooperate with the United States, rather than their ideological leaning.
“This is not about the left or right, it is about having in power a president who cooperates with us. Surely the stance he takes against the United States has affected our relationship […] We are trying to limit that as much as possible,” he stated.
The clash between Petro and Trump is the most recent in a broken relationship in which neither of them skimps on attacks or criticisms. The most recent chapter came at the start of December, when Trump suggested the possibility of intervening in Colombia, arguing that any country producing or trafficking drugs “is subject to attack.”
The warning came after months of pressure and threats against Maduro, whom Trump accuses of being the leader of the Cartel de los Soles. Petro, who has harshly criticized U.S. missile strikes on boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific, later responded: “Do not threaten our sovereignty, or you will wake the jaguar.”
At that time, Petro’s relationship with the U.S. government had already gone through periods of stress, such as in October, when Trump accused him without evidence of being an “illegal drug leader” and announced an increase in tariffs on Colombia that ultimately didn’t materialize. Or when he revoked the Colombian president’s U.S. visa in September, after he took part in a pro-Palestine demonstration in New York during the week of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. As well as when Washington decertified Colombia days earlier as a country cooperating in the war on drugs.
Calls for consultation by both ambassadors and the rejection of deportation flights from the U.S., nearly a year ago, signaled a deterioration in bilateral relations. With just eight months left, the feeling is that repairing the previously unbreakable ties between the two countries, until a few years ago, will be a task for the next Colombian government.
On the recent phase of the pressure on Chavism, on Monday, during a function in which he announced the U.S. would build a new kind of warship named after him, Trump said that he planned to keep the cargo, consisting of 1.9 million barrels, and the first of the oil tankers seized on Sept. 10, a cargo ship called Skipper.
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump raised the tone of his attacks against his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro: “If he plays tough, it'll be the last time he'll ever be able to,” he warned, in response to a question from a reporter who asked what he thought about a possible response from Maduro to the increasing pressure on Caracas from Washington. The U.S. president last week announced a “total and complete blockade” of oil tankers sanctioned by Washington coming to and leaving from Venezuela.
This announcement cleared up the few remaining doubts about Washington’s interest in the South American country’s petroleum and made an official change in strategy that seems destined to see the fall of the Chavist regime: from a so-called war on drugs, which has resulted in over a hundred extrajudicial killings of crew members of so-called drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific, to the harassment of oil tankers: three to date. Trump added that it would be “smart” for Maduro to step down, “but again, we’re gonna find out.”
As well as his attack on Maduro, Trump added more fuel to the fire of his tense relationship with Colombian President Gustavo Petro. At a press conference in his Mar-a-Lago mansion, the Republican leader pointed out that the left-wing leader is “a very bad guy” and that “he’s no friend to the United States,” in reference to cocaine trafficking which, according to him, the Colombian head of state allows.
“[H]e’s gotta watch his ass because he makes cocaine […] We love the Colombian people, but their new leader is a troublemaker. He’d better close those cocaine factories. […] We know where they are,” said Trump, who spoke about three in particular.
The barrage against Petro came after Trump heard him mention this at a government event at the end of last week, when he said that if Trump was ready to reclaim the territory that he claims was stolen from the U.S. in Venezuela, he should be willing to give Texas and California back to Mexico.
“A Latin American president can’t say ‘give it back, it was stolen from us’, but he (Trump) can say ‘give it back, it was stolen’ when talking about Venezuelan oil.” He then proposed using both the territories of those states and Venezuelan hydrocarbons as objects of a “dialogue-based” negotiation, instead of the intimidations that have been seen in the Caribbean Sea in recent months.
Rubio’s Message
The tone of Trump’s warning was very similar to that of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio last weekend at another press conference in which he specifically focused his criticism on Petro. He was asked how the U.S.' relationship with Colombia would be affected if a left-wing candidate won the presidency again. The Florida Republican highlighted Colombia’s democratic tradition and stated that what matters is the winner’s willingness to cooperate with the United States, rather than their ideological leaning.
“This is not about the left or right, it is about having in power a president who cooperates with us. Surely the stance he takes against the United States has affected our relationship […] We are trying to limit that as much as possible,” he stated.
The clash between Petro and Trump is the most recent in a broken relationship in which neither of them skimps on attacks or criticisms. The most recent chapter came at the start of December, when Trump suggested the possibility of intervening in Colombia, arguing that any country producing or trafficking drugs “is subject to attack.”
The warning came after months of pressure and threats against Maduro, whom Trump accuses of being the leader of the Cartel de los Soles. Petro, who has harshly criticized U.S. missile strikes on boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific, later responded: “Do not threaten our sovereignty, or you will wake the jaguar.”
At that time, Petro’s relationship with the U.S. government had already gone through periods of stress, such as in October, when Trump accused him without evidence of being an “illegal drug leader” and announced an increase in tariffs on Colombia that ultimately didn’t materialize. Or when he revoked the Colombian president’s U.S. visa in September, after he took part in a pro-Palestine demonstration in New York during the week of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. As well as when Washington decertified Colombia days earlier as a country cooperating in the war on drugs.
Calls for consultation by both ambassadors and the rejection of deportation flights from the U.S., nearly a year ago, signaled a deterioration in bilateral relations. With just eight months left, the feeling is that repairing the previously unbreakable ties between the two countries, until a few years ago, will be a task for the next Colombian government.
On the recent phase of the pressure on Chavism, on Monday, during a function in which he announced the U.S. would build a new kind of warship named after him, Trump said that he planned to keep the cargo, consisting of 1.9 million barrels, and the first of the oil tankers seized on Sept. 10, a cargo ship called Skipper.
Previous article![]( "What’s Behind the Trump Administration’s War on Typefaces?")
Next article![]( "America’s Increasingly ‘K-Shaped’ Economy Is Difficult To Reconcile")
