This comes mere days after Trump said in the wake of the US operation in Venezuela over the weekend that "Colombia is very sick too" and accused Petro of "making cocaine and selling it to the United States" before adding: "He`s not going to be doing it very long, let me tell you"

However, Rodriguez’s own legitimacy as the new leader of Venenuela is facing grave opposition. Nobel winner and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado alleged that Rodriguez is embattled in corruption and has relations with Iran and Russia