Colombians protest nationwide after Trump threats
Crowds of Colombians have gathered in public squares across the country in nationwide demonstrations “to defend national sovereignty” against Donald Trump’s military threats.
Colombia’s flags waved in the breeze from rooftops, windows and taxi antennas in the capital, Bogotá, on Wednesday in response to President Gustavo Petro’s call for a “day of national mobilisation”.
“The U.S. is the biggest threat to world peace,” one placard at said at a protest in the city’s central Plaza de Bolívar. Hundreds of demonstrators chanted “Long live free and sovereign Colombia!”
In a security alert, the US embassy in Bogotá warned Americans to steer clear of the protests “as they have the potential to turn violent”.
A demonstrator holds a sign depicting Gustavo Petro with a message in Spanish that translates as “He represent us and has our support” during a protest at Plaza de Bolivar square in Bogotá, Colombia. Photograph: Andres Rot/Getty Images
As the Associated Press also reports, Petro has been frustrated with Colombian congressional resistance to his contentious reforms, and as he faces a series of electoral tests he has found in Trump the perfect foil as he fights for his legacy.
“He wants this stage where he is the clearest adversary, rhetorically or politically, to the US,” said Sergio Guzman, a political risk analyst based in Bogotá.
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Updated at 00.52 GMT
Key events
16m ago
US Venezuela raid killed 100, says Caracas
1h ago
US operation put ‘stain’ on Venezuela relations – Rodríguez
2h ago
Colombians protest nationwide after Trump threats
2h ago
Trump confirms Petro call and flags meeting soon
2h ago
Starmer discusses Greenland in call with Trump
3h ago
Trump and Petro talk in phone call – reports
3h ago
Colombia warns of regional ‘catastrophe’ after Washington’s Venezuela attack
4h ago
Trump signs proclamation withdrawing from international organizations, White House says
4h ago
Trumps says Venezuela will ‘only’ buy US goods with proceeds from oil sale under new deal
4h ago
The day so far
5h ago
‘We do not owe US anything’: Venezuelan oil company says negotiations ongoing
5h ago
Marinera was ‘stateless vessel’ with ‘long history of nefarious activity’, says UK defence secretary, arguing mission was lawful
6h ago
Explainer: what are Trump’s real options for gaining control of Greenland?
6h ago
Explainer: why so much interest in a rusty tanker in the Atlantic?
7h ago
Rubio says US plan for Venezuela is stability, recovery, then transition
7h ago
Ukraine welcomes US seizure of Russian-flagged tanker
7h ago
US House speaker insists no expectation for boots on the ground in Venezuela
8h ago
US ‘not winging it’ in Venezuela, says Rubio
8h ago
UK Home Office calls oil tanker seizures ‘important activity with US allies’
9h ago
Leavitt brushes off Russia anger over ship seizure
9h ago
Leavitt says US controlling Greenland would deter China and Russia in the Arctic
9h ago
Crew of seized tanker could face US prosecution, White House says
9h ago
Rubio says US on verge of deal to take ‘all the oil stuck in Venezuela’
10h ago
Venezuela interim authorities want oil seized on the Sophia, says Rubio
10h ago
Hegseth says US military power, on display with tanker seizures, ‘will continue’
10h ago
Rubio meeting with Denmark on Greenland issue next week
11h ago
UK confirms support to US seizure of Russian flagged oil tanker
11h ago
Senior Russian lawmakers decries US seizure of Russian-flagged tanker as piracy
11h ago
‘No state has right to use force against ships’ from other jurisdictions, Russia says after US seizure of Russia-flagged tanker
11h ago
‘We will always be there for Nato, even if they won’t be there for us,’ Trump says
12h ago
US military confirms seizure of Russian-flagged tanker
12h ago
Russia’s footage of Marinera purports to show US special forces helicopters near tanker
13h ago
Venezuela-linked Russia-flagged tanker seized in North Atlantic near Iceland – US media report
13h ago
Icelandic coast guard says it is monitoring movements of Marinera
13h ago
Reported US attempt to seize Russian-flagged Marinera – context
14h ago
US attempting to seize Russian-flagged tanker – media reports
14h ago
Danish, Greenlandic ministers seek urgent meeting with US Rubio over Greenland’s future
14h ago
Russia reportedly sends submarine to escort ‘shadow fleet’ tanker being pursued by US
14h ago
Live in Greenland? Share your views on Trump’s comments
15h ago
UK’s Farage says Trump right about need for big Nato base in Greenland – but using force to seize it would be ‘outrageous’
15h ago
Brigitte Bardot’s funeral gets under way in Saint-Tropez
15h ago
Ukraine’s national interests will be protected at Paris talks, Zelenskyy’s chief aide says
16h ago
Ukraine-US talks to continue in Paris, Zelenskyy says
16h ago
Eyes on Marinera oil tanker as Russia deploys naval escort
16h ago
EU reveals weak hand as Trump raids Venezuela and threatens Greenland
17h ago
How a US takeover of Greenland would undermine Nato from within – analysis
17h ago
More than 700 flights from Amsterdam cancelled due to extreme weather
17h ago
European leaders rally behind Greenland as US ramps up threats
18h ago
Morning opening: One step forward, one step back
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US Venezuela raid killed 100, says Caracas
Further to our last post, Venezuela had not previously given a number for those killed in the weekend US operation that removed president Nicolás Maduro from power, but the army posted a list of 23 names of its dead.
Interior minister Diosdado Cabello said late on Wednesday that 100 people died in the US raid, Reuters reports.
Venezuelan officials have said a large part of Maduro’s security contingent was killed “in cold blood”, and Cuba has said 32 members of its military and intelligence services in Venezuela were killed.
Cabello also said that Maduro’s wife, First Lady Cilia Flores – who was detained alongside him – suffered a head injury during the US raid, while Maduro sustained a leg injury.
As our piece on the pair’s appearance in a New York City court on Tuesday detailed, Flores had two large Band-Aids on her face – on the temple and forehead.
Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez, who Cabello praised during his weekly show on state television as “courageous”, on Tuesday declared a week of mourning for members of the military killed in the raid.
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Updated at 02.12 GMT
Venezuela’s interior minister is being quoted just now as saying 100 people died in the US attack on the country at the weekend, and that the toll includes civilians.
We’ll bring you more on Diosdado Cabello’s comments as they come to hand.
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Updated at 01.46 GMT
US operation put ‘stain’ on Venezuela relations – Rodríguez
Venezuela’s interim leader has said US forces’ attack to depose her predecessor put a “stain” on the countries’ relations, but she defended plans to sell oil to Washington.
“There is a stain on our relations such as had never occurred in our history,” Delcy Rodríguez said on Wednesday, cited by AFP.
But she added it was “not unusual or irregular” to trade with the US now, following the announcement by state oil firm PDVSA that it was in negotiations to sell crude to the US.
Rodríguez was separately quoted as saying in a meeting with the leadership of Venezuela’s national assembly that the country was “open to energy relations where all parties benefit”.
Delcy Rodríguez taking the oath as Venezuela’s interim president on Monday. Photograph: Government ministry of information/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 01.34 GMT
Colombians protest nationwide after Trump threats
Crowds of Colombians have gathered in public squares across the country in nationwide demonstrations “to defend national sovereignty” against Donald Trump’s military threats.
Colombia’s flags waved in the breeze from rooftops, windows and taxi antennas in the capital, Bogotá, on Wednesday in response to President Gustavo Petro’s call for a “day of national mobilisation”.
“The U.S. is the biggest threat to world peace,” one placard at said at a protest in the city’s central Plaza de Bolívar. Hundreds of demonstrators chanted “Long live free and sovereign Colombia!”
In a security alert, the US embassy in Bogotá warned Americans to steer clear of the protests “as they have the potential to turn violent”.
A demonstrator holds a sign depicting Gustavo Petro with a message in Spanish that translates as “He represent us and has our support” during a protest at Plaza de Bolivar square in Bogotá, Colombia. Photograph: Andres Rot/Getty Images
As the Associated Press also reports, Petro has been frustrated with Colombian congressional resistance to his contentious reforms, and as he faces a series of electoral tests he has found in Trump the perfect foil as he fights for his legacy.
“He wants this stage where he is the clearest adversary, rhetorically or politically, to the US,” said Sergio Guzman, a political risk analyst based in Bogotá.
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Updated at 00.52 GMT
Trump confirms Petro call and flags meeting soon
Donald Trump just confirmed he spoke with Gustavo Petro, saying he “appreciated his call and tone” and that a meeting between them at the White House would be arranged soon.
The US president said on his Truth Social platform:
It was a Great Honor to speak with the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who called to explain the situation of drugs and other disagreements that we have had. I appreciated his call and tone, and look forward to meeting him in the near future. Arrangements are being made between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Foreign Minister of Colombia. The meeting will take place in the White House in Washington, D.C.
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Updated at 00.04 GMT
Starmer discusses Greenland in call with Trump
Keir Starmer spoke with Donald Trump on Wednesday evening and set out his position on Greenland, the UK government said.
Both leaders also discussed the joint operation to intercept the Marinera tanker, recent progress on Ukraine and the US operation in Venezuela, said the statement, cited by Reuters.
Starmer had earlier said he stood with Denmark in its defence of Greenland and that no one else should determine the future of the vast territory after Trump said he needed it for defence.
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Updated at 01.00 GMT
Trump and Petro talk in phone call – reports
Donald Trump and Colombia’s Gustavo Petro held a phone call on Wednesday afternoon, Reuters has cited a Colombian presidential source and local media as saying.
It is the first phone call between the two presidents since Trump said on Sunday that a US military operation focused on Colombia’s government “sounds good” to him.
Details of the conversation were not immediately made clear but the source within Petro’s office said the call was “cordial” and “respectful”.
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Updated at 23.46 GMT
Colombia warns of regional ‘catastrophe’ after Washington’s Venezuela attack
The US military strike on Venezuela that deposed its leader Nicolás Maduro could ripple out into a “catastrophe” for the whole of South America, Colombia’s deputy foreign minister has said.
“If there is a major humanitarian crisis, the impact, the devastation will be unstoppable … We are talking about a catastrophe that Latin America has never seen,” Mauricio Jaramillo told Agence France-Presse in an interview in Bogotá on Wednesday.
Colombia shares a porous 2,200km (1,370-mile) border with Venezuela and has been the major recipient of migrants fleeing the economic and political crisis there.
Jaramillo said Colombia could never be “fully prepared in the event there is a degradation brought about by war”, especially at a time Latin America is split on Donald Trump’s actions.
Mauricio Jaramillo talking to reporters in Bogotá this week. Photograph: Carlos Ortega/EPA
Rightwing governments in Argentina and Ecuador have backed Maduro’s ouster but leftists in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and others have firmly condemned it.
Jaramillo said:
That division obviously undermines a regional solution … Without shared premises and minimum consensus, it’s obviously very difficult to respond at the regional level.
He added that a US military attack on Colombia seemed “unlikely” but that the country would have a “legitimate” response if needed.
Colombia and its first-ever leftist president, Gustavo Petro, have consistently criticised Washington’s mass naval deployment in South America, its bombing of alleged drug-smuggling boats, seizure of Venezuelan oil tankers and Saturday’s capture of Maduro.
The censure from Bogota has irritated Trump, who has accused Petro of being a drug baron – which Petro denies – and warned him on Saturday to “watch his ass”.
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Updated at 23.28 GMT
Trump signs proclamation withdrawing from international organizations, White House says
Donald Trump has also signed a proclamation withdrawing the United States from 35 non-United Nations organizations and 31 UN entities that “operate contrary to US national interests”, the White House said in a statement.
It did not list the organizations, but said they promote “radical climate policies, global governance, and ideological programs that conflict with US sovereignty and economic strength”.
It said the move was the result of a review of all international intergovernmental organizations, conventions and treaties that the US is a member of or party to, per Reuters.
“These withdrawals will end American taxpayer funding and involvement in entities that advance globalist agendas over US priorities, or that address important issues inefficiently or ineffectively such that US taxpayer dollars are best allocated in other ways to support the relevant missions,” the White House said.
Since beginning his second term a year ago, Trump has sought to slash US funding for the UN, ended US engagement with the UN Human Rights Council, extended a halt to funding for the Palestinian relief agency UNRWA and quit the UN cultural agency UNESCO. He has also announced plans to quit the World Health Organization and the Paris climate agreement.
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Updated at 22.47 GMT
Trumps says Venezuela will ‘only’ buy US goods with proceeds from oil sale under new deal
Donald Trump has said in a post on his Truth Social platform that Venezuela will be purchasing American-made products with the money they receive from the new deal arranged with his administration.
I have just been informed that Venezuela is going to be purchasing ONLY American Made Products, with the money they receive from our new Oil Deal. These purchases will include, among other things, American Agricultural Products, and American Made Medicines, Medical Devices, and Equipment to improve Venezuela’s Electric Grid and Energy Facilities.
In other words, Venezuela is committing to doing business with the United States of America as their principal partner — A wise choice, and a very good thing for the people of Venezuela, and the United States.
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Updated at 22.41 GMT
The day so far
The US seized two sanctioned oil tankers linked to Venezuela in two separate missions in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean.
After a two-week pursuit, US forces boarded the Russian-flagged Marinera – originally known as the Bella 1 – over alleged sanctions violations, in a high-stakes operation that could risk confrontation with the Kremlin after Moscow reportedly dispatched a submarine to safeguard the vessel.
The UK confirmed it provided assistance for the seizure of the Marinera, with the RAF providing extra surveillance and navy refuelling while capture under way. The UK argued the operation was legal and justified because the “stateless” vessel had breached US sanctions on Iran. The UK’s support was “in full compliance with international law”, defence secretary John Healey said.
However, Russia said the seizure had violated maritime law after claiming it had given the vessel permission to fly the Russian flag a month ago.
Meanwhile the US Coast Guard said it had separately intercepted another dark-fleet tanker that is under sanctions, the M Sophia, in a pre-dawn operation in the Caribbean.
The White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later confirmed that the Marinera crew members were now subject to prosecution and could be transferred to the US “if necessary”.
The Russian foreign ministry demanded the US ensure the humane and dignified treatment of Russian citizens onboard the Marinera and guarantee their swift return to Russia.
Ukraine’s foreign minister said Kyiv welcomed the seizure of the tanker, adding it was a good example of how to act against Moscow and said it showcased “President Trump’s resolute leadership”. “We welcome such an approach to dealing with Russia: act, not fear. This is also relevant to the peace process and bringing a lasting peace closer,” Andrii Sybiha wrote on X.
On Venezuela, the White House also claimed that oil from the country would arrive in the US “very soon”, following Trump’s announcement of a deal with Caracas to get access to up to $2bn worth of Venezuelan crude.
But Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA said that it is progressing in negotiations with the US for oil sales, as a board member for the company told Reuters the US will need to buy cargoes at international prices. “If they want to buy it, they will have it in due time, sold at the international price,” PDVSA board member Wills Rangel told Reuters. “Not the way [Trump] intends, as if that oil belongs to them because we supposedly owe them. We do not owe anything to the United States.”
US secretary of state Marco Rubio told reporters that the US “is not winging it” in Venezuela and that the Trump administration has a long-term plan for the country. The three-step plan for Venezuela that will begin with stabilizing the country after US forces seized Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, overseeing the country’s recovery and finally a transition to a more representative form of government, Rubio told reporters.
Rubio also confirmed he would be meeting with Denmark next week to discuss Greenland.
Leavitt told reporters that the Trump administration was “actively discussing” the purchase of the island and while diplomacy was the first option, “all options are always on the table”. In a statement earlier in the day, Leavitt had added that “utilizing the US military is always an option at the commander-in-chief’s disposal”. She also said told reporters that the US controlling Greenland would deter Russian and Chinese aggression in the Arctic.
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‘We do not owe US anything’: Venezuelan oil company says negotiations ongoing
Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA has said that it is progressing in negotiations with the US for oil sales, as a board member for the company told Reuters the US will need to buy cargoes at international prices.
On Tuesday, Washington announced a deal with Caracas to get access to up to $2bn worth of Venezuelan crude, a sign that Venezuelan government officials are responding to Donald Trump’s demand that they open up to US oil companies or risk more military intervention.
Trump has said he wants interim Venezuelan president Delcy Rodríguez, installed this week after the US deposed Nicolás Maduro, to give the US and private companies “total access” to her country’s oil industry.
And earlier, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Venezuelan oil would be arriving in the US “very soon”.
PDVSA said in a brief statement that the parties have been talking about similar terms as those in place with foreign partners such as Chevron, the company’s main joint venture partner, which currently controls all oil exports to the US.
The process … is based on strictly commercial transactions under terms that are legal, transparent and beneficial for both parties.
PDVSA board member Wills Rangel, who is also a union leader, told Reuters the US will need to buy cargoes at international prices if the country wants Venezuelan oil.
If they want to buy it, they will have it in due time, sold at the international price. Not the way [Trump] intends, as if that oil belongs to them because we supposedly owe them. We do not owe anything to the United States.
Chevron, which has a special US license to export Venezuelan crude despite sanctions, is the only company currently exporting crude from the country, Rangel added, as a US blockade on Venezuela keeps exports bound to China, the main destination of its oil, paralyzed.
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Updated at 21.17 GMT
US authorities have released two videos filmed by the military following the separate seizures of the Sophia and Marinera oil tankers on Wednesday.
US homeland security secretary Kristi Noem and US Southern Command posted the clips on X, which appear to show the US military intercepting a Venezuela-linked tanker in the Caribbean Sea. The footage was released on the same day US forces also intercepted and seized the Russian-flagged Marinera in the north Atlantic.
We have the clips here:
US seizes two oil tankers in international waters – videoShare
Marinera was ‘stateless vessel’ with ‘long history of nefarious activity’, says UK defence secretary, arguing mission was lawful
Dan Sabbagh
Britain’s Ministry of Defence said it had provided military help to the US forces that seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker north-west of Britain and Ireland, initially arguing the operation was legal because the vessel had breached US sanctions on Iran.
John Healey, the defence secretary, said the UK had allowed US aircraft to use bases to prepare for and carry out the mission, while the RAF had provided extra surveillance and the navy refuelling while the final capture was under way.
Healey said British involvement was justified under international law because the Marinera, which was sailing from the Caribbean Sea towards Russia, had previously been placed under sanctions when it was known as the Bella 1.
“This ship, with a nefarious history, is part of a Russian-Iranian axis of sanctions evasion which is fuelling terrorism, conflict and misery from the Middle East to Ukraine,” Healey said.
John Healey issuing a statement to MPs in the House of Commons on 7 January. Photograph: Parliament TV/PA
Later, Healey expanded the justification for the seizure. The tanker, he told MPs in the evening, had changed its name “five times in the last five years” and had been falsely flying the flag of Guyana when it was called Bella 1 and arrived in the Caribbean.
A “stateless” vessel, the defence secretary said, “may be lawfully intercepted and subjected to the law of the interdicting state”. Stateless ships are generally considered to be without protection under international law, although there is debate about the extent to which they can be boarded or seized.
The Marinera was also, the minister said, part “of an increasing web of shadow shipping that fuels and funds instability” and that “Russia operates a vast shadow fleet of its own to bankroll its illegal invasion of Ukraine”. Stopping such ships from trading covertly was hurting Russia’s war effort, he added.
The UK had decided to assist in response to a request from the US for help, the defence secretary said. But British forces only played a supporting role and no British forces took part in the boarding, Healey told MPs on Wednesday evening.
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Updated at 20.48 GMT
Explainer: what are Trump’s real options for gaining control of Greenland?
By Jon Henley and Miranda Bryant
The Trump administration has said repeatedly that the US needs to gain control of Greenland, a mineral-rich, largely self-governing part of Denmark with foreign and security policy run from Copenhagen.
The White House has said using the US military is “always an option”, but few analysts believe an armed operation is likely and France’s foreign minister has said the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has ruled out the possibility of an invasion.
Here are five options Donald Trump has in order to take over Greenland:
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Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski told the Associated Press (AP) earlier that she hated “the rhetoric around either acquiring Greenland by purchase or by force,” adding, “I think that it is very, very unsettling.”
New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen and North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis, co-chairs of the bipartisan Senate Nato Observer Group, said the US needs to honor its treaty obligations to Denmark, AP reported.
“Any suggestion that our nation would subject a fellow Nato ally to coercion or external pressure undermines the very principles of self-determination that our Alliance exists to defend,” the senators said in a joint statement.
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Explainer: why so much interest in a rusty tanker in the Atlantic?
by Tural Ahmedzade, Harvey Symons, Oliver Holmes and Dan Sabbagh
A massive, rusty crude oil tanker floating north through the Atlantic has become the centre of global interest after it was followed for days and eventually seized by US forces while Russia’s military rushed towards it.
Despite not carrying any oil, the 300-metre-long ship is clearly of value. Theories for why range from speculation that high-value Russian weapons are hidden in the hull, to the ship’s potential to become a symbolic trophy in a transatlantic power struggle between Washington and Moscow.
Currently called the Marinera, the name-changing ship is part of the shadow or “ghost” fleets used by Russia, Iran and Venezuela to avoid western sanctions. For years these vessels have moved cargo and cheap fuel around the globe, including to China.
Washington and its European allies have long sought to crack down on the illicit maritime trade. Those efforts reached a critical point last month after Donald Trump imposed a naval blockade on sanctions-busting tankers operating near Venezuela, home to the world’s largest oil reserves and a key destination for shadow fleet vessels.
Read the full explainer at the link below:
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Rubio says US plan for Venezuela is stability, recovery, then transition
Further to his insistence that the US is “not winging it” in Venezuela, we have more details on what secretary of state Marco Rubio said earlier regarding the US’s plan for the country.
Rubio said the United States has a three-step plan for Venezuela that will begin with stabilizing the country after US forces seized Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, overseeing the country’s recovery and finally a transition to a more representative form of government, Reuters reports.
“We don’t want it descending into chaos,” said Rubio, after briefing US senators on the Trump administration’s plan for the country. He added that he was working with Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, and had spoken with her several times since the weekend’s raid in Caracas.
A tightened quarantine on Venezuelan oil would be central to that effort, he said:
We are in the midst right now and in fact about to execute on a deal to take all the oil. We are going to take between 30 and 50 million barrels of oil. We’re going to sell it in the marketplace at market rates, not at the discounts Venezuela was getting.
That money will then be handled in such a way that we will control how it is disbursed in a way that benefits the Venezuelan people, not corruption, not the regime.
Rubio went on:
The second phase will be a phase that we call recovery, and that is ensuring that American, western and other companies have access to the Venezuelan market in a way that’s fair.
Also, at the same time, begin to create the process of reconciliation nationally within Venezuela, so that the opposition forces can be amnestied and released and from prisons or brought back to the country, and begin to rebuild civil society.
And then the third phase, of course, will be one of transition.
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Ukraine welcomes US seizure of Russian-flagged tanker
Ukraine’s foreign minister has said that Kyiv welcomes the US seizure of the Marinera Russian-flagged tanker linked to Venezuela, adding that it showed Donald Trump’s “resolute leadership”.
“The apprehension of a Russian-flagged ship in the North Atlantic underscores the United States’ and President Trump’s resolute leadership,” Andrii Sybiha wrote on X.
“We welcome such an approach to dealing with Russia: act, not fear. This is also relevant to the peace process and bringing a lasting peace closer.”
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Updated at 19.02 GMT
