Donald Trump has issued a catalogue of threats against several countries after American troops captured Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.
The US president has followed Mr Maduro’s shock arrest with threats against Colombia, Mexico, Greenland, Iran and Cuba.
Mr Maduro will appear in a New York court at 12pm ET (5pm GMT), where he faces charges of narco-terrorism, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices. He faces decades to life in prison on each count if convicted.
As the fallout over Mr Maduro’s arrest continues, The Independent looks at every country Mr Trump has recently threatened, after his boast that “American dominance in the Western hemisphere will never be questioned again.”
Venezuela
For months, the US has been striking what it describes as Venezuelan “drug boats”, which it claims are carrying narcotics to the US.
Since the first strike in September, Mr Trump has ordered an unprecedented buildup of military assets near the country’s Caribbean coast and issued a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers.
The US seized Mr Maduro and his wife in a military operation Saturday, capturing them in their home on a military base.
open image in galleryColombia
Mr Trump has warned Colombian president Gustavo Petro – one of his fiercest critics on the international stage – that the South American country could be the next to face US military action.
The US sanctioned Mr Petro last autumn after Mr Trump blamed him for failing to curb drug trafficking in the country and allowing cartels to “flourish”.
Colombia has become a refuge for millions of Venezuelans who have fled Mr Maduro’s rule in recent years.
“Colombia is very sick, too, run by a sick man, who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States, and he’s not going to be doing it very long,” he told reporters while on board Air Force One.
When asked by NewsNation’s Libbey Dean whether the US would carry out a military operation, the US president said: “It sounds good to me. You know why? Because they kill a lot of people.”
open image in galleryMexico
Mexico has long been a target of Mr Trump’s anger, with the US president blaming the government for failing to deal with drug cartels and prevent the flow of migrants across the border.
Drugs are “pouring” through Mexico, Mr Trump said last year, describing the cartels as “very strong”.
He said that Mexico, which has been led by left-wing president Claudia Sheinbaum since October 2024, “has to get their act together” or “we’re going to have to do something”.
Mr Trump claims to have offered Ms Sheinbaum the US military’s help to root out drug cartels.
On Monday, Ms Sheinbaum said that Mexico is a sovereign country and was cooperating with the US on drug trafficking and security.
“We categorically reject intervention in the internal matters of other countries,” she said.
open image in galleryGreenland
Fears are growing that Mr Trump could order US military action in Greenland after repeated threats to seize the territory.
“We do need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for defence,” Mr Trump told The Atlantic magazine on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Katie Miller, the wife of one of Mr Trump’s senior aides, Stephen Miller, posted a picture on social media of Greenland in the colours of the American flag alongside the word “soon” following the Venezuela operation.
Mr Trump’s desire for a US takeover of the mineral-rich self-governing Danish territory has been no secret since he resumed office in January last year.
On Monday, Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said in a statement that “the US has no right to annex any of the three nations in the Danish kingdom”, of which Greenland is one.
open image in galleryIran
Mr Trump has long considered Iran’s regime one of America’s main adversaries. Last June, the US joined an Israeli bombing campaign aimed at destroying the country’s nuclear programme.
Last week, he weighed in on the ongoing protests in Iran over the cost of living, in which at least eight people have reportedly been killed by police. Protesters have called for the overthrow of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei.
“If Iran shots [sic] and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue … We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” he wrote on Truth Social.
It is not clear how the US could help the protesters. Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Mr Trump only said: “If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think they’re going to get hit very hard by the United States.”
open image in galleryCuba
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said on Sunday that he believes Cuba is “in a lot of trouble” following the capture of Mr Maduro, a key ally.
“I’m not going to talk to you about what our future steps are going to be and our policies are going to be right now in this regard,” Mr Rubio told NBC. “But I don’t think it’s any mystery that we are not big fans of the Cuban regime, who, by the way, are the ones that were propping up Maduro.”
Mr Trump says the US may not need to intervene in Cuba, one of Venezuela’s key allies, as he claims that the country is “ready to fall” following Mr Maduro’s capture.
“I don’t know if they’re going to hold out, but Cuba now has no income. They got all of their income from Venezuela, from the Venezuelan oil. They’re not getting any of it. Cuba literally is ready to fall.”
