The socialist regime of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro rejected claims made by far-left Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Wednesday that Colombian drug trafficker Jobanis de Jesús Ávila Villadiego has formed an alliance with the National Liberation Army (ELN) Marxist terror group in Venezuelan territory.

Villadiego, also known as Chiquito malo (“Bad Little Boy”), is the current leader of the Colombian Clan del Golfo drug cartel, succeeding its previous leader Dairo “Otoniel” Úsuga David after he was arrested in 2021 and sentenced to 45 years on numerous drug trafficking charges in 2023.

Petro, through a Wednesday Twitter post, asserted that Villadiego had formed an alliance with ELN inside the territory of neighboring Venezuela. Petro added that Colombian authorities have already seized 32 tons of cocaine from the Catatumbo region and arrested “several mayors and politicians who were helping the drug traffickers.”

“Crop substitution in Catatumbo is essential to achieving peace. Violence in the Caribbean revolves around ports and extortion. I’ve decided to change the entire port administration,” Petro’s message said.

“There will be a special meeting today to intensify the offensive against Clan del Golfo,” he continued. “I expect from the Caribbean citizens, and with due confidentiality, information to find the leaders of the Clan.”

Petro’s statements drew fierce criticism from the socialist Maduro regime.

The Colombian newspaper El Tiempo reported on Wednesday that it had obtained a copy of an official letter sent by the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry to its Colombian counterpart protesting Petro’s social media post and rejecting being held responsible for “dynamics that have their origin and expansion in Colombian territory.”