Colombian President Gustavo Petro threatened to “take out” President Donald Trump in an lengthy interview with Univision on Monday a day after Trump called Petro “an illegal drug leader.”
Relations between Colombia and the United States are at a nadir after the U.S. destroyed a suspected drug running boat in the Caribbean last month, killing a Colombian national. Petro said the man was a fisherman. A report by El Pais says the man had a criminal record involving the theft of hundreds of weapons from a police station in 2015.
Colombia recalled its ambassador to the U.S. on Monday for consultations.
Last month, the State Department revoked Petro’s visa during the U.N. General Assembly after he spoke at a pro-Palestinian rally in New York City and called on U.S. troops to disobey orders by Trump.
Speaking with Univision President Daniel Coronell at the end of the interview at Casa de Nariño in Bogota, Petro said if Trump won’t change, the solution is to “take out Trump,” loudly snapping his fingers.
Petro: “Humanity has a first offramp, and it is to change Trump in various ways. The easiest way may be through Trump himself–the easiest. If not, take out Trump.”
PRIMERA SALIDA Y ES CAMBIAR A TRUMP DE DIVERSAS MANERAS. PUEDE SER POR EL MISMO TRUMP, LA MáS FáCIL, SI NO SACA LA TRUMP.” (Note: Both X and Google translate the comment as “take out Trump.” The MRC translation is “get rid of Trump.”
Coronell, was shaken by the interview, posting afterward (via translation), “I’m leaving more worried than when I arrived.”
Me voy más preocupado de lo que llegué
— Daniel Coronell (@DCoronell) October 21, 2025
Video via the Media Research Center’s Jorge Bonilla:
JUST IN: Colombia’s President Petro wraps his Univision interview by saying that if @realDonaldTrump won’t change, the solution is to “get rid of Trump” pic.twitter.com/JzRYHGPIzX
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) October 21, 2025
On Sunday, Trump posted about Petro:
President Gustavo Petro, of Colombia, is an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields, all over Colombia. It has become the biggest business in Colombia, by far, and Petro does nothing to stop it, despite large scale payments and subsidies from the USA that are nothing more than a long term rip off of America. AS OF TODAY, THESE PAYMENTS, OR ANY OTHER FORM OF PAYMENT, OR SUBSIDIES, WILL NO LONGER BE MADE TO COLOMBIA. The purpose of this drug production is the sale of massive amounts of product into the United States, causing death, destruction, and havoc. Petro, a low rated and very unpopular leader, with a fresh mouth toward America, better close up these killing fields immediately, or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President Donald J. Trump
Excerpt from the Guardian on the battle between Petro and Trump:
Colombia has recalled its ambassador to Washington amid a furious war of words between the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, and Donald Trump over deadly US strikes on boats in the Caribbean.
The row took a sharp turn this weekend when Petro accused the US of “murdering” a Colombian fisher in an attack on a vessel in its territorial waters. Petro and his administration said the mid-September strike was a “direct threat to national sovereignty” and that the victim was a “lifelong fisherman” and a “humble human being”.
In response, Trump, who has claimed such attacks are designed to stop drug-smuggling to the US, called Petro an “illegal drug dealer” and vowed to end aid payments to Colombia, one of the largest recipients of US counter-narcotics assistance. He also ordered Petro to “close up” drug cultivation sites, saying if not “the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely”. Speaking onboard Air Force One, Trump added that he would announce new tariffs on Colombian goods.
…Relations soured at the start of Trump’s second term. Days after Trump’s inauguration Colombia initially refused to accept military flights carrying deportees, prompting the US president to threaten tariffs and sanctions. Months later, Washington revoked Petro’s visa after he urged US soldiers to disobey Trump at a pro-Palestine rally in New York, telling them “disobey the orders of Trump. Obey the orders of humanity.”
In September, the US then declared that Colombia was “failing” to meet its international drug control obligations, decertifying it for the first time in nearly 30 years.
Excerpt from report by El Pais published Sunday (via translation):
Following the most recent military action by the United States in Caribbean waters, a boat that, according to the Donald Trump administration, was destroyed on September 16th. It was believed to be transporting drugs to the United States.
In the attack, a Colombian man identified by President Gustavo Petro as a “fisherman, not a drug trafficker” was reportedly killed.
However, the media outlet El Tiempo learned that Alejandro Andrés Carranza, better known as “Coroncoro,” was allegedly involved in the theft of 264 weapons from the Santa Marta Metropolitan Police.
The incident reportedly occurred almost a decade ago, between March and September 2015 , when the Prosecutor’s Office uncovered what appeared to be an illegal operation within the police force itself. The scandal was enormous due to the large number of firearms seized from illegal groups that disappeared from the Sijín’s evidence warehouse.
…Led by the 19th Sectional Prosecutor’s Office of Magdalena, together with the CTI (Criminal Investigation Unit), seven people were arrested: Major Rolando Pinzón García, who was serving as head of the Sijín (National Investigation Unit) at the time; five uniformed officers of various ranks; and one civilian: Alejandro Andrés Carranza Medina, alias “Coroncoro.”
‘Croncoro’ was the only civilian who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit a crime, embezzlement by appropriation, falsification of a public document, and aggravated theft, in connection with the weapons incident.
Years later, his name would be mentioned again, this time when President Gustavo Petro himself defended him after the US attack on the boat he was traveling on…