Not even in the ruling that acquitted former President Álvaro Uribe Vélez, after nearly 13 years of legal proceedings, has President Gustavo Petro let Donald Trump go.
The president lashed out at the judicial decision of the Bogotá Superior Court. He accused it of repeating history and contradicting the Supreme Court, by rejecting as evidence the controversial wiretaps that were made"in error" against the former president during the first phase of the trial.
"Now Trump, allied with these politicians and with Uribe, will seek to sanction the president who, throughout his life, denounced the alliances between Colombian political power and paramilitary drug trafficking in Colombia, and he does so with the help of those who aided paramilitarism in the country."
The Bogotá High Court repeats history, contradicts the Supreme Court, and affirms that the interception that a Supreme Court judge judicially made of a criminal, where Uribe's voice appears talking about bribes, is privacy.
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) October 21, 2025
This is how it is… https://t.co/2j3unJm2eL
For months, Gustavo Petro has said that many of the U.S. government's decisions against him have been motivated by the Colombian right, and especially by Uribe supporters.
"So the time has come for definitions, and it's not Trump who defines, it's the people," the president said in his post.
Shortly after, the head of state published a second message in which he once again harshly questioned President Donald Trump's deployment in the Caribbean. He spoke of a"threat of military invasion of Colombia and Venezuela" and again raised the issue he sees as almost imminent: "Personal sanctions against me, as if I were the world's drug lord, when I barely own a house that I still owe the bank on and that is worth less than half a living room in one of the apartments in the buildings owned by Trump."
Petro also lashed out at Bernie Moreno, who had said in the morning that the US government was going to include not only the president, but also his family and closest allies, on the Clinton list.
“What we have in Colombia is a president who was elected with the help of drug cartels. We're going to continue to investigate that; in fact, we're going to accelerate that investigation… In the meantime, we're going to list him, his extended family, and his associates with OFAC, and we're going to designate additional cartels in Colombia as foreign terrorist organizations. Because what President Trump will not tolerate is countries sending us poison to kill our citizens. It's that simple,” Moreno said on Fox News.
Petro asserted that Bernie Moreno's role in relations between Colombia and the United States is "disastrous" and that "they want a coup against me."
This isn't the first time Gustavo Petro has blamed Uribe supporters for being behind the White House's decisions against his government.
In a presidential address following the US government's decision to decertify Colombia, the president said it was due to"an alliance of far-right people in Miami, Colombians, very rich people who live near those who currently govern the United States." He then said that President Trump had ignored the number of seizures, which"was less with your friend... me, four times more than your friend Uribe, Mr. Trump."
I don't interfere in the justice system here or abroad. President Petro should work instead of gossiping.
— Álvaro Uribe Vélez (@AlvaroUribeVel) September 18, 2025
“I don’t interfere in the justice system, either here or abroad. President Petro should work instead of gossiping,” responded Álvaro Uribe.
Colombia, in constituent mode
Using Uribe's acquittal as an argument and Trump's alleged interference in that decision, the president set a date for a new meeting with the people.
"I'll be waiting for you at Plaza de Bolívar in Bogotá this Friday to begin collecting signatures for the constituent assembly," he said.
“It’s not Trump who defines, it’s the people,” he concluded.
The president frequently calls out to the crowds when a decision goes against him. He did the same when the US government revoked his visa."I don't need a visa to go to Ibagué," he said.
In the capital of Tolima, the president asserted that Colombia must enter into constituent assembly mode.
Amid the euphoria of that afternoon, the president asserted that he won't run for president again, but that he knows if he did, he would win."They know that if I ran for office, I'd sweep them by a mile. Give me Paloma, Vicky, or De la Espriella and I'd beat them all together... They won't let me because they're scared of me being a candidate," he stated.
The president asserted that the country should not re-elect him, but rather the"project."
The president said there will be a sponsoring committee to collect two and a half million signatures."We only do that at demonstrations. The point is, we have to get into constituent mode. Not just in listening mode. Not just in electoral mode, where we have to win Congress and the Presidency."
