Trump threatens that the next leaders after Maduro could be Colombia and Cuba.

Trump's statements made on January 4 aboard Air Force One indicate that the US administration is ready to consider new military operations in Latin America, writes Al Jazeera.

Trump told reporters that Colombia and Venezuela are "very sick," and the government in Bogotá is led by "a sick man who loves to make cocaine and sell it to the United States." "And he won't be doing this for long, believe me," Trump said, referring to Colombian President Gustavo Petro.

When the US President was asked whether there was talk of a US military operation against Colombia, he replied: "It sounds good to me."

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These statements provoked a sharp response from Petro: he demanded that Trump stop spreading slander about him and called on Latin American countries to unite, otherwise they risk “ending up as servants and slaves.”

In several lengthy posts on Platform X, Petro noted that "the United States is the first country in history to bomb a South American capital." He emphasized that revenge is not the answer. Instead, Latin America must unite and become a region "capable of understanding, trade, and cooperation with the rest of the world."

“We look not only to the north, but in all directions,” he noted.

Warnings for Venezuela, Mexico and Cuba

Trump's remarks came the day after US forces captured Nicolás Maduro in Caracas in what Washington described as a "law enforcement" operation. The operation was aimed at bringing Maduro to trial on narcoterrorism charges. Maduro denies the charges, and US critics claim Washington was seeking control of the country's vast oil reserves.

On Air Force One, Trump declared that the United States "controls" Venezuela, despite the country's Supreme Court appointing Vice President Delcy Rodriguez as acting leader. Furthermore, the White House chief threatened to send American troops to Venezuela if the country "doesn't behave properly."

He said that many Cubans were killed during the US raid in Venezuela, but that military intervention in Cuba was not needed because the island, in Trump's view, was "ready to fall on its own."

"Cuba is ready to fall. It looks like it's ready to fall. Cuba has no income now—they used to get everything from Venezuela, from Venezuelan oil. Now they get nothing. Cuba is literally ready to fall," he concluded.

Trump also issued a warning to neighboring Mexico, saying the country "has to get a grip because drugs are coming through Mexico, and we're going to have to do something."

The White House chief described Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum as a "fine person" and stated that he had offered to send American troops to Mexico at every meeting. He believed the Mexican government was capable of solving the problem, "but unfortunately, the cartels in Mexico are too powerful."

"Whether you like it or not, the cartels run Mexico," he said.

Trump's comments on January 4 weren't his first threats against Colombia and Cuba. He stated that Petro "must be careful," and the political situation in Cuba is "something we'll eventually talk about because Cuba is a country in crisis."

Don-roe Doctrine

Trump has openly declared his ambitions to expand the US presence in the Western Hemisphere and revive the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine, which placed Latin America within Washington's sphere of influence. He dubbed his 21st-century version the Monroe Doctrine.

Meanwhile, the governments of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay and Spain expressed deep concern and said they "categorically reject unilateral military action on Venezuelan territory."

"Such actions contravene the fundamental principles of international law, in particular the prohibition of the threat or use of force. They create an extremely dangerous precedent for peace and regional security and endanger civilians," the statement said.

Analysts note that it is not yet clear whether Trump intends to carry out his threats or is simply trying to force countries to cooperate with Washington.

"It's hard to predict. Judging by his actions, Trump hopes other countries will do what he wants without resorting to serious force. Short, effective demonstrations like the bombing of Iran or the operation in Venezuela should frighten countries and force them to act according to his plan," commented David Smith, Associate Professor at the Centre for American Studies at the University of Sydney.

According to him, Trump is trying to achieve regime change in Latin America through other means. He previously clashed with Petro over deportation flights, imposed sanctions on the Brazilian judge who presided over the case against former President Jair Bolsonaro, supported the government of Javier Miley in Argentina, and pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was accused of drug trafficking.

"We see that in the first year of his administration there was a much more consistent policy of supporting right-wing governments in Latin America and damaging the left," Smith concluded.

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Political scientist Matthew Wilson of Southern Methodist University added that Cuba will be a top priority due to long-standing US grievances and the influence of Cuban-American communities, which are extremely hostile to the Havana government. The US and Cuba have had tense relations since 1959, when Fidel Castro overthrew the pro-US government and established a socialist state allied with the former USSR.

"I would be more worried in Cuba than in Colombia, because the United States has long-standing grievances against Cuba, and there is an influential community of Cuban-Americans who are extremely hostile to the Cuban regime," Wilson concluded.

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