LONDON — President Donald Trump implied on Sunday that Colombian President Gustavo Petro might face U.S. motion quickly, following the American assault on Venezuela that noticed its president, Nicolas Maduro, captured and brought to face trial within the U.S.
Trump additionally appeared to threaten Cuba, the leftist authorities that has been a longtime ally of Maduro and his authoritarian regime in Venezuela.
“Colombia may be very sick too, run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and promoting it to the USA. And he is not going to be doing it very lengthy, let me inform you,” Trump advised reporters Sunday.
Requested if the U.S. would launch a army operation in opposition to Colombia, Trump responded, “It sounds good to me.”
Earlier on Sunday, Petro launched a press release on the operation in opposition to Venezuela and Trump’s earlier feedback about him, saying, “I deeply reject Trump talking with out understanding; my title doesn’t seem within the judicial information on drug trafficking over 50 years, neither from earlier than nor from the current.”
President Donald Trump addresses the media throughout a information convention at his Mar-a-Lago membership on Jan. 3, 2026, in Palm Seaside, Fla.
Joe Raedle/Getty Pictures
“Cease slandering me, Mr. Trump. That is not the way you threaten a Latin American president who emerged from the armed wrestle after which from the folks’s wrestle for Peace in Colombia,” he added.
Following the elimination of Maduro in Venezuela, reporters requested Trump if the U.S. had the same plan to cope with Cuba, to which he stated that the federal government in Havana solely survived due to Venezuelan largesse.
“Now, they will not have that cash coming in. They will not have the revenue coming in. You understand, plenty of Cubans had been killed yesterday, you already know that plenty of Cubans had been killed,” Trump stated.
Trump stated the Cubans killed on Saturday had been attempting to guard Maduro. In response to Cuban officers, at the least 32 Cuban nationals had been killed within the U.S. operation.
Folks journey a bike previous a mural of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela, January 4, 2026.
Ronald Pena R/epa/shutterstock/RONALD PENA R/EPA/Shutterstock
“Cuba seems prefer it’s able to fall. I do not know the way they — if they are going to maintain out, however Cuba now has no revenue,” Trump stated. “They received all of their revenue from Venezuela, from the Venezuelan oil. They are not getting any of it. And Cuba actually is able to fall. And you’ve got plenty of nice Cuban Individuals which can be going to be very completely happy about this.”
Requested once more if the U.S. is contemplating motion in Cuba, the president stated he didn’t suppose it essential as a result of “it seems prefer it’s happening.”
In Venezuela, in the meantime, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez was appointed as interim president by the nation’s Supreme Court docket, which described the U.S. seize of Maduro as a “kidnapping.”
Maduro and his spouse, Cilia Flores, are scheduled to make their preliminary appearances on Monday in a federal courtroom in Manhattan.
On Saturday, Rodriguez demanded Maduro’s return and vowed to defend Venezuela in opposition to American aggression.
A firefighter walks previous a destroyed anti-aircraft unit at La Carlota army air base, after President Donald Trump stated the U.S. has struck Venezuela and captured its President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas, Venezuela, January 3, 2026.
Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/Reuters
On Sunday, Rodriguez posted a press release to social media wherein she invited “the U.S. authorities to collaborate with us on an agenda of cooperation oriented in direction of shared improvement inside the framework of worldwide legislation to strengthen lasting neighborhood coexistence.”
In feedback to The Atlantic, Trump threatened additional motion in Venezuela if Rodriguez did not “do what’s proper.” Requested what he needed from Rodriguez, Trump known as for “whole entry” to the nation’s oil reserves.
“We’re in cost,” Trump advised reporters of the state of affairs within the nation on Sunday. The president stated that he had not spoken to Rodriguez. Requested if he deliberate to, the president stated, “On the proper time, I’ll.”
ABC Information’ Meghan Mistry, Hannah Demissie and Will Gretsky contributed to this report.
