Colombian President Petro Calls For South American Countries To Become One Larger Nation Amid Escalating Tensions With U.S.

During a public event in Santa Marta, Colombian President Gustavo Petro floated the idea of uniting several South American nations to revive Gran Colombia, the 19th-century republic that once encompassed modern-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama, as he claims that the United States' counter-narcotics campaign in the Caribbean and the Pacific is undermining regional sovereignty.

Speaking in Santa Marta, where independence hero Simón Bolívar died, Petro invoked the memory of the liberator to call for unity among South American nations as a way to resist what he called U.S. aggression.

He later reaffirmed his message in a post on X, writing, "I propose to the peoples who inhabit this territory demarcated in 1819 that, through constituent power and agreements among governments, we reconstruct Bolívar's idea of a Great Colombia — a confederation of sovereign nations with a common parliament and a shared presidency, similar to the European Union."

Despite Petro's repeated references to Gran Colombia in recent days, Interior Minister Armando Benedetti told the Miami Herald that the president's comments were "symbolic."

"I interpret that statement to mean that Colombia and the countries of Latin America, especially South America, should once again embrace brotherhood and peace," Benedetti said. "I think he means we should look inward and avoid conflict among ourselves."

During his speech at the Latin American and Caribbean Peoples' Summit, Petro also directed a warning to U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, urging them to respect the sovereignty of South American nations.

"Be careful," Petro said. "You are crossing the Caribbean of the liberators. You are entering Bolívar's homeland. Have you not read Bolívar's history? You are arriving in lands where armies of peasants with spears defeated the most powerful forces in the world."

His remarks referred to Latin America's fight for independence against Spain and to the 19th-century period when France imposed a monarchy in Mexico, drawing a parallel between past colonial interventions and what he described as current U.S. interference in the region.

Since ordering airstrikes in South America in early September, the United States has carried out 19 attacks that have killed 76 people as part of its counter-narcotics campaign in the region.

The Colombian president's comments mark the latest escalation in a series of tense exchanges with President Trump and the United States, who last month added Petro to a sanctions list, alleging without evidence that he is "an illegal drug dealer."