Trump Warns Colombia and Mexico, Predicts Cuban Government Collapse

"...The comments prompted an immediate backlash from Petro, who called on all countries in Latin America to unite or face being "treated as a servant and slave"...."

"..."The US is the first country in the world to bomb a South American capital in all of human history," he wrote in a lengthy post on X. "The wound remains open for a long time," but revenge was not the answer, he said...."

"...Latin America must unite, Petro said, and become a region "with the capacity to understand, trade, and join together with the whole world" and one that does not look "only to the north but in all directions"...."

"...The US president's comments on Sunday were not his first threats against Colombia and Cuba...."

"...Following the US actions over the weekend, Trump said that Petro has to "watch his a**" and that the political situation in Cuba was "something we'll end up talking about because Cuba is a failing nation."..."

"...Al Jazeera's John Holman, reporting from Cucuta on the Colombia-Venezuela border, said Trump's recent remarks come amid a "bigger pattern" of Trump targeting left-leaning countries in Latin America and trying to assert US dominance in the region...."

"..."He's saying that Latin America is our area, and we need to be dominant there and after what's happened with Nicolas Maduro, those threats and comments are going to be taken a bit more seriously," Holman said...."

"...Trump has made no secret of his ambitions to expand the US presence in the Western Hemisphere and revive the 19th century Monroe Doctrine, which states that Latin America falls under the US sphere of influence...."

"...Trump has called his 21st century version the "Don-roe Doctrine"...."

"...The governments of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay and Spain meanwhile expressed their "profound concern" in a joint statement and said they "firmly reject the military actions undertaken unilaterally in Venezuelan territory"...."

"..."These actions contravene fundamental principles of international law, particularly the prohibition on the use or threat of force. They constitute an extremely dangerous precedent for peace and regional security and endanger the civilian population," they said...."

"...Analysts said it was too soon to tell whether Trump would make good on his threats to Cuba and Colombia, or whether he was aiming to coerce them into cooperating with Washington...."

"..."It's very hard to predict. If you look at the way Trump operates, what he always hopes is other countries will do what he wants them to do without him having to use very much force. These short, spectacular displays of force like the bombing in Iran, this operation in Venezuela scare other countries into doing what Trump wants them to do," said David Smith, an associate professor of the University of Sydney's US Studies Centre...."

"..."Maduro seems to have tried to call his bluff in this case, and it turned out it wasn't a bluff," Smith told Al Jazeera. "They don't know whether he's bluffing now when he makes threats towards other countries, or renewed threats towards Venezuela."..."

"...Trump is "trying to pressure regime change" across Latin America in other ways as well, Smith said, noting that the US president has previously sparred with Petro over deportation flights and sanctioned a Brazilian judge who oversaw the prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro – a Trump ally – for an attempted insurrection...."

"...Trump has also backed the right-wing government of Argentina's Javier Gerardo Milei and pardoned ex-Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez of drug trafficking charges...."

"..."We've seen in this first year of his administration in general a far more concerted agenda to promote right-wing governments in Latin America and to damage left – wing governments in Latin America," Smith said...."

"...Another expert said he believed more US military action was unlikely soon, but that Cuba would be the top priority...."

"..."Cuba and Colombia present somewhat different situations," said Matthew Wilson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in the US state of Texas...."

"..."I would be more concerned if I were in Cuba than if I were in Colombia, if I were a member of the regime there, because there's a longstanding US grievance against Cuba, and definitely a mobilised constituency of Cuban Americans who are very hostile to the regime there," he told Al Jazeera...."