President Petro’s clash with Trump over Venezuela backs Colombia into a corner

By ISABEL DEBRE and MANUEL RUEDA, Associated Press

BOGOTÁ, Colombia (AP) — An “abhorrent” violation of Latin American sovereignty. An attack committed by “enslavers.” A “spectacle of death” comparable to Nazi Germany’s 1937 carpet bombing of Guernica, Spain.

There is perhaps no world leader criticizing the Trump administration’s attack on Venezuela as strongly as left-wing President Gustavo Petro of neighboring Colombia.

While other officials tread carefully, Petro has seized on the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to escalate his spiraling war of words with President Donald Trump, who has said a U.S. military operation in Colombia “ sounds good to me. ”

On Wednesday, Petro called for Colombians to take to the streets “to stand up ...