NEWSTORN Information
x/@petrogustavoTwo Colombian air drive planes despatched to the US to fetch deported migrants have landed within the capital, Bogotá.
The migrants had been on US navy flights headed for Colombia on Sunday, when Colombian President Gustavo Petro barred the US navy plane from touchdown, arguing that these on board had been being handled like criminals.
The incident took the 2 nations to the brink of a commerce battle after DonaldTrump threatened to impose 25% tariffs on Colombian items and Petro stated he would retaliate in sort.
Diplomats from each nations reached a deal which has seen Colombia ship its personal air drive planes to gather the migrants, a course of that Petro stated ensured they had been handled “with dignity”.
“They’re Colombians, free and dignified, and of their homeland the place they’re cherished,” he wrote on X.
He additionally posted photographs of the migrants getting off the aircraft with out handcuffs.
x/@petrogustavoThe remedy of deportees on US navy flights appears to have been on the centre of the spat between the 2 governments.
Colombia has accepted deportation flights from the US prior to now: in 2024, 124 planes carrying deported migrants from the US landed within the nation.
However in certainly one of his posts on X on Sunday, Petro referenced a information video displaying migrants deported from the US to Brazil, who had been handcuffed and had their ft restrained throughout the deportation flight.
The Colombian chief stated that he would “by no means permit Colombians to be returned handcuffed on flights”.
Petro’s refusal to let the US navy plane land angered President Trump, who campaigned on a promise to take away illegal migrants from the US by means of “mass deportations”.
Trump directed his administration to “instantly” slap 25% tariffs on all Colombian items coming into the US, which he stated would improve to 50% after every week.
He additionally imposed visa restrictions and different sanctions, in what many observers felt was an try and ship a message to different nations to co-operate or face critical penalties.
US State Division Spokeswoman Tammy Bruce advised Fox Information on Monday that “this was about reminding Colombia that there’s a worth to pay in the event you go towards your agreements, issues that you just promise”.
The US embassy in Bogotá cancelled lots of of visa appointments on Monday and Tuesday.
Colombians arriving on the gates had been handed letters which advised them the cancellation was “because of the Colombian authorities’s refusal to simply accept repatriation flights of Colombian nationals”, the Related Press reported.
EPAUS officers had stated earlier that the visa restrictions wouldn’t be lifted till the migrants who had been turned again on Sunday had landed in Colombia.
Neither the US nor the Colombian authorities have supplied particulars of the deal that defused the state of affairs.
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote in a press release that “the Authorities of Colombia has agreed to all of President Trump’s phrases, together with the unrestricted acceptance of all unlawful aliens from Colombia returned from the US, together with on US navy plane, with out limitation or delay”.
In the meantime, Colombian International Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo stated that the “deadlock” with Washington had been “overcome”.
Murillo added that his authorities would proceed to obtain Colombian deportees in “dignified circumstances”.
It’s not at present clear if Colombia will proceed sending air drive planes to the US to gather deported migrants or if Tuesday’s two flights had been a one-off.
Central American and South American leaders are anticipated to debate methods to cope with the Trump administration’s migration coverage at a summit convened by Honduras within the wake of the Colombia-US spat.
President Petro has already confirmed his attendance.
