President Gustavo Petros has announced that he has banned US military aircraft carrying deported migrants from entering his country’s airspace, saying he will only accept civilian flights that treat these people “with dignity”.
A US official told Reuters that Colombia had denied entry to two military planes that had departed from California and were carrying about 80 migrants each.
“An immigrant is not a criminal and should be treated with the dignity a human being is entitled to. That’s why we pushed back the US military planes that were transporting Colombian immigrants,” said Petro in a post on Platform X. “I cannot force immigrants to stay in a country that does not want them, but if that country deports them, it must be done with dignity and respect for them and for our country,” he added.
“We will welcome our citizens with civilian aircraft, without treating them like criminals,” he concluded.
It is recalled that Brazil yesterday demanded an explanation from Washington for the “humiliating treatment” of the irregular Brazilian immigrants who were deported from the US and arrived on Friday in Manaus by military aircraft. According to the Brazilian government, 88 Brazilians were on board this aircraft.
Trump responded with a tariff war
He said on Sunday that the United States would impose extensive sanctions and tariffs against Colombia over its refusal to accept US military aircraft carrying deported migrants.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the United States would impose an emergency tariff of 25 percent on all Colombian goods entering the United States and raise it to 50 percent in one week.
“I was just informed that two repatriation flights from the United States, with a large number of illegal criminals, were not allowed to land in Colombia. This order was given by Colombia’s socialist president Gustavo Petros, who is already very unpopular among his people. Petro’s refusal to allow these flights endangered the National Security and Public Safety of the United States, so I have ordered my government to immediately take the following urgent and decisive retaliation:
– Imposing 25% tariffs on all goods imported from Colombia to the US, expected to rise to 50% within a week.
– Travel ban and visa revocation for Colombian government officials, as well as their allies and supporters.
– Visa sanctions for party members, their families and supporters of the Colombian government.
– Enhanced checks by US Customs and Border Protection on all Colombian citizens and their goods, on grounds of national security.
– Economic sanctions through the IEEPA Act, which concern the banking and financial sector,” Trump wrote.
“These measures are only the beginning,” the American president emphasized, concluding that the United States will not allow the Colombian government to violate its legal obligations regarding the acceptance and return of criminals it had forced to immigrate to the United States.
Check out Trump’s post:
Almost at the same time, however, the Colombian presidency announced that it would send the presidential plane to the US to transport deported migrants back to the country.
