‘A Despicable Person Is One Who Invites Others to Invade Their Own Country’

Colombian President Gustavo Petro defended Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro and criticized opposition figure and recent Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado, calling her “a despicable person” for, he said, inviting foreign intervention in Venezuela.

In an interview with journalist Daniel Coronell, Petro contrasted Maduro’s actions with Machado’s, saying that while Venezuela’s authoritarian president “is reacting so that Venezuela begins to have an economy without oil,” Machado represents “a person who invites the invasion of their own country.” He added, “For me, a despicable person is one who invites others to invade their own country — a traitor, period.”

Petro’s comments about Machado follow earlier criticism of her Nobel Peace Prize win, in which he questioned why she had sought international backing from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he accused of committing “crimes against humanity.”

“How can someone seek help from a genocidal leader to bring peace to Venezuela?” Petro asked, referring to Machado’s 2018 letter to Netanyahu and then–Argentine President Mauricio Macri. “What does it mean for Norway, which awards this prize, to encourage that kind of alliance — one that leads to barbarity and war, not peace?”

Petro has also criticized the recent U.S. military campaign in the Caribbean, which Washington says targets drug traffickers but which Caracas and Bogotá have described as a pretext for regime change. He has called for a “Caribbean agreement” to address narcotics transit rather than escalating military pressure on Venezuela.

Machado, who remains in hiding, has dismissed such attacks and reiterated that the only “invasion” in Venezuela is by “guerrillas, cartels, and foreign agents” operating under Maduro’s protection.

The Colombian president’s remarks come amid a tense diplomatic standoff with the United States, which has strongly backed Machado and recently suspended aid to Colombia and accused Petro of being a “drug-trafficking leader.” As a result, the Colombian government announced on Monday it is recalling its ambassador to the U.S.

Venezuela’s authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro defended Petro and Colombia on Tuesday, saying that the neighboring nations are “one country” and that “if they touch Venezuela, they touch Colombia.”