Colombian President Petro Says U.S. Claim Of Maduro Leading The 'Cartel de los Soles' Is a 'Lie Like Iraq's Weapons Of Mass Destruction'

Colombian President Gustavo Petro rejected the Trump administration's claim that the Venezuelan regime is leading the "Cartel de los Soles," saying that it is a "lie like Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, and only serves to invade countries."

"Those running cocaine trafficking in Venezuela are the same ones doing it on Catatumbo, the plains and the Bogota savanna. They are called Drug-trafficking Board and the U.S. government and European intelligence agencies have had information on them for a long time," Petro said in a social media publication.

Petro went on to say that the group "controls the largest amount of cocaine sold in Colombia, transporting it through submersible vessels and speedboats in Colombia and through airplanes through Venezuela. They buy public officials and opposition members, as well as law enforcement officers in Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and Ecuador."

"Colombian, Ecuadorean and Venezuelan authorities have managed to capture Albanian and Italian leaders who are part of the Drug-trafficking Board, favoring Europe in their shipments and destroying the Haitian government," Petro added.

The president concluded by warning that "consequences of encouraging the invasion of Venezuela will cause millions to migrate the Colombia and a drop in the price of oil to less than $50 a barrel," bankrupting the country's state-run oil company Ecopetrol while "extractors of light oil" in the Middle East, the U.S. and Russia "take the market."

Petro has been publicly weighing on the deployment of U.S. warships near the Venezuelan coast, saying on Wednesday that "gringos are mad if they think that invading Venezuela will solve their problems."

"They are dragging Venezuela into a Syria-like situation, with the problem that they are dragging Colombia too," he added. "I told Trump through his emissaries that it would be the worst mistake."

Petro went on to say that an eventual attack would actually be aimed at taking Venezuela's natural resources. "They would take underground riches, minerals, and that means more for death, not for life."

In this context, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday that the Trump administration "is prepared to use every element of American power" to deal with Venezuela.

Colombian Interior Minister Armando Benedetti, however, said the country doesn't have a military cooperation agreement with Venezuela. "There is no military agreement here. Not even one of joint military cooperation. There's no trace of that happening whatsoever," Benedetti said.