A councilman from a small municipality in Colombia, belonging to the ruling political party Historic Pact movement, made headlines last Saturday during the installation session of an ordinary meeting of the Municipal Council, when the politician took a U.S. flag and set it on fire in front of his colleagues and council officials.
During his speech, Councilman Jose Padilla delivered harsh criticism of U.S. foreign policy, particularly the decisions of President Donald Trump, whom he called a “beast,” and extended his reproach to Senator Marco Rubio.
The incident comes amid the current growing tension between Colombia and the United States, following the withdrawal of U.S. economic aid to the South American country, the decertification of Colombia in its fight against drug trafficking, and various sanctions against President Gustavo Petro — the most recent being his inclusion on the so-called Clinton List of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for alleged, and so far unproven, links to drug trafficking.
Colombian ruling party councilman burns US flag
A councilman from the small municipality of Tame, depertmentof Arauca, with just 50,000 inhabitants and located in the Eastern Plains region, carried out an act that, beyond the anecdote, reflects the existing tensions between supporters of President Petro’s government in Colombia and the United States.
Jose Padilla, a veteran councilman from the ruling Historic Pact party in that municipality, burned a U.S. flag shortly before the start of the municipal meeting, shouting slogans against the Trump administration. In a recording shared by the local outlet Al Aire Noticias, Padilla can be seen grabbing a flag and setting it on fire in front of his fellow council members, who demanded respect and described the situation as an act of vandalism.
“Sovereignty must be respected, Mr. Donald Trump. Beasts, just like Marco Rubio,” shouted the councilman as he set the flag on fire. For his part, the president of the Council described the incident as “disrespectful” and called the politician to order. “Councilman Padilla, show us some respect here. If you have differences with the United States, then go settle that; it has nothing to do with us here,” he is heard saying in the video of the municipal session.
Later, in an official statement, the council expressed its condemnation: “We categorically reject this type of action, which goes against respect, institutional integrity, and the values that represent our municipality.” It also announced that “the corresponding corrective measures will be taken, in accordance with the law, the internal regulations, and public ethics standards.”
El concejal de Tame, Arauca, José Padilla Guerra, quemó una bandera de los EEUU🇺🇸 en plena sesión del Concejo Municipal.
Dijo que era una "protesta" contra @realDonaldTrump @POTUS por las sanciones contra Petro.
➡️ No lo estamos perfilando. Él quiere volverse "famoso" y lo… pic.twitter.com/yPr3jCKg90— Rafael Gonzalez Richmond (@rafagonzalez64) November 1, 2025
Motivations and political reading in Colombia
Jose Padilla justified his action as a “symbolic gesture of protest against U.S. interventionism and interference.” In his own words, he said that “they come for the wealth of oil, they come for Petro, for alternative presidents.”
The local context also matters: The municipality of Tame, in the Arauca region, is located in a border area with Venezuela, rich in natural resources and marked by high social and political complexity. In that setting, the U.S. flag symbolized for the councilman a representation of what he understands as “external pressure” on Colombia.
According to the aforementioned local media outlet, several council members recalled that Jose Padilla Guerra had already been sanctioned in 2024 for similar behaviors.
In addition, other members of the Council stated that the attitude of the Historic Pact politician put the integrity of the council members at risk, while others took the opportunity to apologize to the citizens for the embarrassing incident, as they themselves described it in various posts on social media.
Burning a U.S. flag is an act laden with political and historical symbolism. Since the 20th century, this gesture has been used in various countries as an extreme form of protest against the power, interventions, or foreign policies of Washington. More than a mere act of provocation, it usually expresses rejection of U.S. economic, military, or cultural dominance and, in many cases, a call for national sovereignty.
In the recent past, there have been numerous examples of this — from the Vietnam War, for instance, when demonstrators in Latin America and Europe burned U.S. flags to denounce that country’s intervention in the conflict, to 2003, with the invasion of Iraq, when similar scenes were repeated in cities around the world.
However, it is worth recalling that President Trump recently signed an executive order instructing the Department of Justice to prosecute individuals who burn the U.S. flag, defying a 1989 Supreme Court ruling that protects it as a form of political expression.