In an interview with El País, Colombian President Gustavo Petro issued a stark warning: continued US pressure on Latin American leaders through sanctions and military actions risks sparking a 'rebellion' against Washington's influence across the region. Referencing the US bombing of Caracas in January 2026 during the operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Petro stated that such interventions have instilled fear among leaders and evoked historical patterns of colonial extortion followed by revolt. 'It's a system like the one the Spanish king had a few centuries ago. And what was Latin America's response? Rebellion. That's what will happen now if the US government isn't capable of rethinking its ties to Latin America,' he told the Spanish newspaper.[1][1]

While mainstream coverage often frames Petro's rhetoric as typical left-wing posturing from Colombia's first leftist president, a deeper examination reveals substantive shifts. Colombia has actively pursued diversification away from traditional US-centric finance and trade. In 2025, Petro initiated accession to the BRICS New Development Bank and signed onto China's Belt and Road Initiative, signaling concrete steps toward alternative multilateral institutions that challenge dollar hegemony and IMF/World Bank dominance. These moves align with broader regional experiments in de-dollarization, including Petro's public push for Brazil's Pix instant payment system to expand across Latin America to bypass OFAC sanctions, which he describes as politicized tools of extortion.[2][3]

This comes against a backdrop of heightened tensions with the second Trump administration, including decertification of Colombia's anti-drug efforts and threats tied to record coca production. Earlier in March 2026, Petro told POLITICO that Latin America is 'not a land to be conquered,' criticizing US military interventions in Venezuela and warnings toward Cuba as echoes of imperial overreach. The January Venezuela operation, involving strikes on the capital to extract Maduro, appears to have crystallized regional unease, with Petro noting it created a chilling effect even among US allies.[4]

These developments expose long-simmering fractures in America's traditional sphere of influence. Far from isolated rhetoric, Petro's comments contextualize a pattern: Latin American nations exploring BRICS partnerships, regional financial integration, and hedging against unilateral US sanctions and regime-change operations. As Petro prepares to leave office in August 2026, his final warnings underscore how overt US assertiveness may be accelerating the very multipolar realignment it seeks to prevent—pushing even moderate states toward anti-hegemonic economic and political blocs. Historical parallels to anti-colonial rebellions carry weight when paired with tangible policy shifts away from Washington toward Beijing, Moscow, and BRICS mechanisms. The dismissal by some outlets as mere leftist bluster overlooks these material connections and the quiet erosion of US unipolarity in its own hemisphere.