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Leaders in Greenland, Mexico and Colombia are asserting their respective nations’ sovereignty and pushing back on pressure from Washington after it removed Nicolás Maduro from power in Venezuela over the weekend.
The move stunned world leaders, including those whose countries have also faced threats of U.S. intervention.
“We categorically reject intervention in the internal matters of other countries,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday, reiterating her nation’s opposition to Washington’s move and to any kind of intervention in Mexico.
Sheinbaum said Mexico is a sovereign country and is co-operating with the U.S. on drug trafficking and security, after U.S. President Donald Trump hinted at military action in Mexico to combat drug cartels. Trump used a similar justification in the runup to removing Maduro, who faces drug trafficking charges in New York.
“It is necessary to reaffirm that in Mexico the people rule, and that we are a free and sovereign country — co-operation, yes; subordination and intervention, no,” she said.
Observers say Mexico is doing almost everything that Washington has requested since Trump began imposing tariffs. Sheinbaum’s administration became more aggressive toward the cartels than her predecessor. There have been more arrests, drug seizures and extraditions. Mexico has agreed to receive more deportees from other countries.
“Intervention, military action in Mexico would suspend that co-operation,” said Carlos Pérez Ricart, a political analyst at Mexico’s Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE). That would be a great risk to the U.S. because it would be left without a partner to work with, he added.
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Yet he and other analysts would not rule out the prospect of U.S. military intervention, even if the possibility is very slim.
“The United States does not function under rational logic,” Pérez Ricart said. “At this moment all possibilities are open, including those unimaginable a year ago.”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he’s “deeply concerned that rules of international law have not been respected” by the U.S.
Guterres said in a statement the “grave” action could set a precedent for future relations between nations.
Elsewhere in the Americas, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said he firmly opposes any possible U.S. strikes against drug traffickers in his country.
Petro said on X his government has conducted record amounts of cocaine seizures and warned that the Trump administration would kill children if it conducts strikes against drug trafficking groups and rebels in Colombia.
Petro, who was a member of a left-wing guerrilla group in his youth, said he will “return to arms” if the U.S. attacks Colombia.
Protesters gather in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Monday, to show their opposition to the U.S. strikes in Venezuela and Maduro’s capture. (Tita Baros/Reuters)
He also said he recently fired Colombian intelligence officers who were feeding the U.S. administration “false information” on his government.
Petro also rejected accusations levelled by Trump that he’s sending cocaine to the U.S.
‘You cannot compare Greenland to Venezuela’
Meanwhile, Greeland’s prime minister said his country is seeking to strengthen ties with the U.S., and its citizens should not fear an imminent American takeover, following renewed interest in the autonomous Danish territory by Trump, who has touted its strategic importance to Washington.
“We are not in the situation where we are thinking that a takeover of the country might happen overnight,” Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said at a news conference in the capital Nuuk.
“You cannot compare Greenland to Venezuela. We are a democratic country.”
Jens-Frederik Nielsen, the prime minister of Greenland, speaks at a news conference in Nuuk, Greenland, on Monday. (Oscar Scott Carl/Ritzau Scanpix/The Associated Press)
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One early on Monday, Trump said he would revisit the topic in a few weeks.
Greenland’s strategic location between Europe and North America makes it a critical site for the U.S. ballistic missile defence system. The island’s significant mineral resources also align with Washington’s ambition to reduce dependence on Chinese exports.
The island — the world’s largest, with a population of 57,000 people — is not an independent member of NATO, but is covered by Denmark’s membership of the Western military alliance.
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen also dismissed Trump’s comments.
“I have made it very clear where the Kingdom of Denmark stands, and Greenland has repeatedly said that it does not want to be part of the United States,” she told public broadcaster DR.
Other European powers also rallied behind Greenland on Monday.
“Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark must determine the future of Greenland and nobody else,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul suggested NATO could discuss strengthening Greenland’s protection, while the European Union reiterated its commitment to the principle of national sovereignty.