Colombian President Petro Said He Feared Being Captured Like Maduro Before Having a Friendly Call With Trump

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said he feared being captured like Venezuela's authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela and was set to begin sleeping in the presidential palace before having a friendly phone call with Donald Trump that helped to defuse tensions, according to a new report.

Speaking to The New York Times, Petro said he was set to sleep next to the sword of Simon Bolivar, an independence hero in South America, concerned that Trump would try to justify a capture by trying to link him to Maduro.

However, the two held a phone call later, leading Petro to post an AI picture of a jaguar embracing a bald eagle to illustrate the amicable tone.

In a social media publication, Petro recalled that he wrote a letter to Trump that a "great American alliance can be established if South America's clean energy potential is seized," claiming that the region can satisfy the country's entire grid with clean energy.

"That is what peace and global democracy means. Using Latin America for its oil can only lead to the destruction of international law and therefore barbarity and a third world war. World peace would be at real risk and we would move towards climatic collapse and the extinction of life," Petro warned.

It is a large departure from previous rhetoric, when Petro said "he would be willing to take up arms again if necessary to defend Colombia's sovereignty, responding to what he described as threats from Trump."

Petro, a former member of the M-19 guerrilla movement, said he had sworn never to carry a weapon again after the 1989 peace agreement but suggested that commitment could change. "Although I have not been a soldier, I know war and clandestinity," Petro wrote. "I swore not to touch a weapon again after the 1989 peace pact, but for the homeland I would take up arms again, even if I do not want to."

Petro framed his remarks as a response to statements made by Trump over the weekend, when the U.S. president told reporters that Colombia, like Venezuela, was "very sick" and claimed it was governed by "a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States." Asked whether the United States could carry out an operation in Colombia, Trump replied: "Sounds good to me."

Trump also posted a friendly message following the call, saying it was a "Great Honor" to speak with him. Petro, Trump, added "called to explain the situation of drugs and other disagreements that we have had. I appreciated his call and tone, and look forward to meeting him in the near future. Arrangements are being made between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Foreign Minister of Colombia."