SÃO PAULO, SP (FOLHAPRESS) – Colombia refused to receive two military flights carrying deportees from the United States this Sunday (26), an American official told Reuters news agency, with President Gustavo Petro citing the case of Brazilians who arrived handcuffed to the country and accuse American immigration agents of aggression and degrading treatment.
According to the official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, the plane with 80 migrants had already taken off from the state of California when the Colombian government suspended authorization. On Friday (24), the same day that the Brazilians began their deportation trip, the American press reported that Mexico also refused to receive a military flight with deportees.
Citing the Brazilian case, Petro said this Sunday (26) that he will not allow US military planes to make deportation flights to his country. “A migrant is not a criminal and must be treated with the dignity that a human being deserves,” said Petro in a publication on X.
“I can’t make migrants stay in a country that doesn’t want them; but if this country returns them, it must be with respect, on civil planes”, he stated. “Colombia demands respect.” The Colombian president highlighted that more than 15 thousand undocumented Americans live in his country.
The flight that was scheduled to take another 80 migrants deported to Mexico had authorization from the Mexican government rescinded before taking off. Another three flights to Guatemala with 80 people each, two of them military personnel, were completed without problems, American officials told NBC broadcaster. Mexico City did not provide details for the flight refusal.
The Itamaraty, in turn, said on Saturday (25) that it will ask the Donald Trump government for explanations about the “degrading treatment” against Brazilians on the deportation flight. Migrants who arrived in Belo Horizonte on Saturday reported attacks, threats and degrading treatment they suffered from American immigration agents.
Several said they were handcuffed for 50 hours, without air conditioning on the flight and subject to abuse from the Americans, and report that they only managed to alert Brazilian authorities after opening one of the plane’s emergency doors and shouting for help from the top of the wing.
“We told them: we are not going to travel on this plane anymore, call our police, get us out of here”, says Denilson José de Oliveira, 26 years old. “I felt very scared. It looked like they were trying to kill us.”
According to the Minister of Justice, Ricardo Lewandowski, the Lula government ordered the removal of handcuffs from Brazilians as soon as it was informed of the situation by the PF. The minister spoke of “flagrant disrespect” of Brazilians’ rights. Planalto also sent a FAB (Brazilian Air Force) plane to transport the migrants to Belo Horizonte, the final destination of the original flight.
