Colombian President Petro Slams GOP Rep. For Saying He 'Signed His Own Sentence': 'You Don't Have The Right'

Colombian President Gustavo Petro slammed GOP Rep. Carlos Gimenez for saying he had "signed his own sentence" by claiming that the Cartel de los Soles, which the Trump administration claims is being led by Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro, doesn't exist.

"You don't have the right to sentence any president who has been elected through the popular vote in Latin America. You were able to sentence Pinochet, but he was an ally. I have the evidence showing who buys the Colombian cocaine that goes to Venezuela. And if the truth lands me in jail, then I'll go to prison," Petro said in a social media publication.

Gimenez had said on Monday that Petro's claim was "extremely serious" and it wouldn't be taken "lightly in the U.S. Congress." The two politicians have been actively weighing in on the tensions taking place in Venezuela as U.S. troops and ships patrol the region.

Petro rejected that Maduro and his authoritarian government run the so-called Tren de los Soles, claiming that drug-trafficking instead is controlled by an organization he dubbed the "Drug-trafficking Board," adding that its leaders live in Europe and the Middle East.

"I proposed to the U.S. and Venezuela to destroy that cartel together. It is a matter of coordination, not submission. Venezuela's political problem is solved among Venezuelans and with more democracy," the Colombian said.

Petro had already made a similar statement last week, when he said the cartel is a "lie like Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, and only serves to invade countries." He added that the U.S. government and European intelligence agencies have had information" on the Drug-trafficking board "for a long time."

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."