Protests in Colombia after US threats of possible military intervention: “Trump is the devil, the most despicable person in the world”
Thousands of people took to the streets on Wednesday in several Colombian cities to protest US President Donald Trump's threats to expand US military action in South America, including Colombian territory.
Thousands of people took to the streets. PHOTO: Facebook video capture/Washington Blade
The demonstrations took place at the call of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, after Donald Trump suggested that he would consider a military intervention in Colombia, following the American attack at the end of last week on Venezuela, notes The Guardian.
“Trump is the devil… he is the most despicable person in the world,” said one of the protesters, a 55-year-old businesswoman.
Another marcher, José Silva, 67, said the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro made a mockery of Trump's claim that he would “president of peace”. “He's the war president…he's a maniac,” Silva stated. “The US Congress must do something to remove him from the office of President… He is a thug.”
On Sunday, Trump nominated Gustavo Petro “a sick man who likes to manufacture cocaine and sell it in the United States”, although there is no evidence that the Colombian leader is involved in drug trafficking in his country, the state being the largest producer of cocaine in the world.
In the city of Cúcuta, located on the border with Venezuela, hundreds of protesters marched waving the national flag and chanting anti-American messages.
Popular discontent was fueled by the US military operation in Caracas, which captured and extradited Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, and killed dozens of Cuban and Venezuelan bodyguards. Gustavo Petro qualified the action as “illegal” and warned that, despite a first telephone dialogue with Donald Trump, Colombia “cannot lower its guard”.
Tensions escalated after Donald Trump publicly insulted the Colombian leader and declared, when asked about a possible Venezuela-style intervention on Colombia, that “it sounds good.” The statements provoked reactions throughout the region, with protests being organized in cities such as Ciudad de México, São Paulo and Buenos Aires.
The attack on Venezuela, which Trump admitted was his goal, and gaining full access to the country's oil reserves, has raised major concerns in Latin America.
Diplomats and analysts warn that the US administration's policy risks destabilizing the entire region and isolating the United States internationally.
The former head of South America in the US National Security Council, Benjamin Gedan, said that Donald Trump shows a deep disinterest in diplomatic relations and the image of the United States in the world, pursuing rather economic and strategic objectives, to the detriment of regional cooperation.
“Donald Trump has shown absolutely no concern for how the United States is perceived and for its relations with governments in the region. He has come to the conclusion that he can bully governments into submission, that public opinion does not matter and that 'soft' power is irrelevant… It is a bizarre approach to a region that he himself has identified as strategically important to the United States.” Trump appears to be doing everything he can to maximize diplomatic disaster.” Gedan added.
