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The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, said this Friday (9) that he feared being captured by the United States last weekend. However, he considers that the telephone conversation with American President Donald Trump on Wednesday (7) may have eased the tension between the two nations.
“Without a doubt”, he replied when questioned by the Spanish newspaper The Countryin an exclusive interview, it was feared that his fate could be the same as that of the Venezuelan leader. “Nicolás Maduro or any president in the world can be removed [de seu governo] if it does not align with certain interests”, he added.
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In the interview with the newspaper, the Colombian president said he had spoken to Trump and that he himself told him that he was thinking about “doing bad things” in Colombia. “The message [de Trump] it was that they were already preparing something, planning a military operation”, he revealed.
After this telephone conversation, Petro says he believes that the threats have “frozen”, but highlighted that “he could be wrong”.
Despite revealing that he feared an attack, Petro said that he did not reinforce his security. “There isn’t even air defense here. It was never acquired because the fighting is internal. The guerrillas don’t have F-16 fighters and the Army doesn’t have this type of defense.”
Its only defense, the Colombian president highlighted, is its people. “What we use here is popular defense and that is why I called for popular resistance on Wednesday,” he said.
Divided people
On Saturday, January 3, Maduro was kidnapped by the United States government and taken into custody.
Maduro’s place was his vice-president, Delcy Rodríguez. Petro says he recently spoke with the Colombian president, who he says he is friends with.
“She is under both internal and external pressure. She has been accused of treason. She sees the need to strengthen Latin American unity, but her main task should be to unite the people of Venezuela. If the people are divided, there will be colonization. If they come together and seek a political solution to this problem that is evident, they will be able to move forward”, he assessed.
During the interview, the Colombian president revealed that his position in relation to Venezuela is not so different from that defended by the United States. However, he highlighted, this cannot be “imposed from outside”.
“The idea of a transition to free elections and shared government has already been raised by others, such as Rubio [Marco Rubio, secretário de Estado dos Estados Unidos]and is in line with my proposal. But it cannot be imposed from outside, it must emerge from Venezuelan dialogue. The role of the United States must be to facilitate this dialogue, together with Latin America.”
