Gustavo Petro calls on “Nicolás Maduro and María Corina Machado to find the Venezuelan way out of the conflict”

The President of Colombia delivered a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in which he criticized what he described as extrajudicial executions in the Caribbean Sea and rejected any form of military intervention in Venezuela. Photo: UN News social media

Guacamaya, October 20, 2025. Amid a new escalation of tensions between Washington and Bogotá, President Gustavo Petro this Monday urged Nicolás Maduro and María Corina Machado to find “the Venezuelan solution” to the internal conflict, while accusing the United States of coveting the neighboring country’s oil. The Colombian leader harshly criticized the policy of President Donald Trump, whom he blamed for a military attack in the Caribbean that, he said, claimed the life of an innocent fisherman.

In an extensive message published on the social network X, Petro warned that “the Venezuelan people want neither invasions, nor blockades, nor threats,” and emphasized that the true way out for the country must be built “away from oil.”

“The people of Bolívar want to be free,they don’t like dictators, whether domestic or foreign; letting them be free is the best way out,” wrote the head of state, who also outlined a post-oil vision for the region: “Venezuela, if it decarbonizes, will be filled with clean energies and an entrepreneurial youth.”

Petro linked the US military deployment in the Caribbean Sea with the “ambition for Venezuelan oil” and launched a harsh criticism against Trump: “The great paradox is that he wants to invade for oil, but in 20 years it will be worthless. He will only gain a plucked, skinny chicken after I don’t know how many deaths.”

The statement comes after an incident that has strained relations between Colombia and the United States. The Trump government confirmed the attack on a vessel in the Caribbean, allegedly linked to drug trafficking, which left two dead and two survivors. One of them, Jeison Obando Pérez, was repatriated to Colombia “with a brain trauma and sedated,” according to Interior Minister Armando Benedetti.

Petro stated that the attack killed an innocent fisherman and accused Washington of overstepping its bounds. Trump’s response was immediate: he announced a drastic cut in US aid to Colombia and the imposition of new tariffs on imports from the Andean nation.

The verbal exchange between the two leaders highlights the fragility of the diplomatic balance in the Caribbean, at a time when the White House is reinforcing its military presence off the Venezuelan coast and Petro insists on a “Great Colombia as a power of life,” based on regional integration and the energy transition