In a bold statement on Monday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro declared his willingness to “take up arms” against the United States should it launch an attack on Colombia. This came in the wake of U.S. military actions in Venezuela, leading to the capture and arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Petro, who was once part of the leftist M-19 guerrilla movement which disbanded in the early 1990s, made his stance clear through a post on X. His comments followed remarks by then-President Trump, who hinted that Colombia could be the next focus in the U.S. administration’s campaign against drugs.

“Though I have never been a military man, I understand war and the life of secrecy,” Petro expressed in a post translated from Spanish. “I vowed not to wield a weapon again since the Peace Pact of 1989, yet for my Homeland, I would pick up arms once more, though it is not my desire.”

In his statement, Petro also firmly denied Trump’s allegations linking him to drug trafficking.

The image of Colombia’s President, Gustavo Petro, vowing to “take up arms again” if targeted by the Trump administration, holds significant weight. (Raul Arboleda/AFP via Getty Images)

“I am not illegitimate, nor am I a narco,” he wrote. “I only have as assets my family home that I still pay for with my salary. My bank statements have been published. No one could say that I have spent more than my salary. I am not greedy.”

Petro’s comments came after Trump spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday.

He warned that Colombia is “very sick too” and is “run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States, and he’s not going to be doing it very long.”

President Donald Trump accused Colombian President Gustavo Petro of being a “sick man” who sells cocaine to the U.S., which Petro denied. (Kevin Dietsch/Thierry Monasse/Getty Images)

Trump also claimed Petro has “cocaine mills and cocaine factories.”

When asked directly whether the U.S. would carry out an operation in Colombia, Trump replied, “It sounds good to me,” before pivoting to once again express interest in annexing Greenland.

Trump’s threats echoed remarks he made in December, as previously reported by Fox News Digital, when he warned Petro that he had “better wise up” or risk being targeted next.

Trump has labeled Petro an “illegal drug dealer” in the past and later doubled down, calling the Colombian president a “lunatic.”

Petro has been one of Trump’s fiercest critics in the region, condemning U.S. strikes on what he described as suspected drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean. Petro previously claimed many of those killed in the strikes were “poor fishermen” forced into the drug trade out of necessity.

In November, he called Trump a “barbarian” and briefly halted intelligence sharing with Washington.

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has been a fierce critic of President Trump. (Luis Acosta/AFP via Getty Images)

Colombia’s narcotics trade is largely controlled by illegal armed groups, including the Gulf Clan, the ELN and dissident FARC factions.

Petro warned that U.S. bombing would radicalize rural communities, saying campesinos would become “thousands of guerrillas in the mountains.”

As previously reported by Fox News Digital, the Trump administration revoked the Colombian president’s visa over alleged “reckless and incendiary actions.”

“Earlier today, Colombian president @petrogustavo stood on a NYC street and urged U.S. soldiers to disobey orders and incite violence,” read a post on the U.S. State Department‘s X account at the time. “We will revoke Petro’s visa due to his reckless and incendiary actions.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.