Colombia’s president, in early Sunday, announced that he had turned two US military planes carrying deportation from the United States, launching an excellent crisis in and out of his country as he enraged President Trump and even caught his own. inner circle.
Friends of President Gustavo Petro – and even his strongest political opponent, former president of álvaro Uribe – quickly jumped, contacts working in Washington to help remove a crisis that threatened to destroy Colombian economy and relations lifting in the area.
Late on Sunday, after the tense discussions between the two countries on the brink of collapse, the White House announced that the Colombian government had agreed to receive all deportation flights, including military aircraft. The Colombian Foreign Ministry soon said that “the deadlock” had been overcome.
“Despite the difficulties we had, it is proof that diplomatic channels are still the best way to resolve the differences,” said Colombian ambassador to the United States, Daniel García-Peña, who was in the capital of Bogota on Sunday.
He was part of a small team that for several hours made Mr Petro in one line and Trump’s administration, through his special envoy to Latin America, Mauricio Claver-Carone, to another.
On Monday, Mr García-Peña said he hoped that the “US-Colombia relationship cannot continue throughout this new administration” but blooms. But on Sunday, this perspective looked away.
For many of the involved, the day started around 4am with their phones constantly ringing. Mr Petro had just published a message on social media.
“The US cannot deal with Colombian immigrants such as criminals,” he said, announcing that it is withdrawing authorization for US military planes to land in Colombia.
At 9:30 am, Mr Petro said he had turned the military planes back. (Trump administration said two military flights were forced to return to the United States.)
The tensions built during the day.
Mr Trump opposed saying he would hit Colombia with 25 percent invoices, increasing 50 percent in a few days, as well as a series of financial and banking sanctions. It also inhibits the visas for all government officials and their associates. “These measures are just the beginning,” Mr Trump wrote.
Mr Petro responded by saying that he would also impose sanctions on the United States as well. “You will never dominate us,” he said.
Colombian Foreign Minister Laura Sarabia called for “calm”.
Gustavo Bolívar, who directs social services programs for Petro’s administration, said the president arrived after Mr Trump’s moves. Mr Bolivar shared his concerns that financial sanctions would harm Colombian companies, he said.
At least three former presidents, including Mr Uribe, a right -wing leader, who has contradicted Mr Petro, was also offered to help navigate the storm. An employee of the facts said that Mr Uribe had called Mrs Sarabia and said essentially: We have differences with President Petro. He was wrong. But we have to resolve it. How do I help?
Ms Sarabia urged Mr Uribe to invite his friends to Washington, including the new Foreign Minister Marco Rubio.
The accounts of some of the discussions within the Petro government and Trump’s administration are partially based on interviews with an employee of Mr Petro’s government and a high -ranking employee. The two officials called for anonymity to describe sensitive discussions.
Republican senators in the United States are also weighing, urging Trump’s administration to show restraint, according to two officials.
In Colombia, members of Mr Petro’s domestic cycle warned that US sanctions could cause widespread damage to the country. The United States is Colombia’s largest commercial partner, with basic industries such as oil, coffee and flowers dependent on the US market.
Mr Petro, a former revolutionary and the leftist, is already facing significant challenges, including the explosion of violence near the Venezuelan border that includes a guerrilla team. The turmoil threatens to unfold his promise to bring constant peace to a country that has experienced decades of conflict.
Mr Petro’s confrontation with Trump’s administration and the immediate reaction from the newcomer came, came as Latin America’s governments are struggling to respond to US pressure to work with measures to limit immigration, including reinforced expulsions. At the same time, they are trying to assure their citizens that they will protect their rights.
Mr Petro announced that he has prevented military deportation flights after reports from Brazil over the weekend that 88 people on a flight from the United States, including certain families, had endured the conditions that the Brazilian government described as “unacceptable” and “unacceptable” ”. The deportation had reached a non -military plane that was malfunctioning and making an emergency landing on Manaus, a city in the Amazon rainforest.
Luis Gilberto Murillo, outgoing Colombian Foreign Minister, who was closely involved in negotiations with the US government on Sunday, said in an interview that Mr Petro had two reasons to block US flights. “The first and most important,” he said, “was the decent treatment of the Colombians. He does not agree with the people who are handcuffed on these flights.”
The other issue was the use of military planes, he said.
Mr Petro did not fully know a recent change in the framework of the Trump administration that allows military aircraft to be used for deportations, Mr Murillo said. In the past, deported immigrants have been transported to commercial -like airplanes and operating from US immigration and customs enforcement.
Mr García-Peña said the Colombian officials were removed on Sunday, when US officials assured them that the Colombians on deportation would not be handcuffed after their return and would be accompanied by their uniform staff.
They were also told that Colombian citizens would not be photographed on the flights, he said.
Mr Trump’s press secretary shared images last week of people in brackets taken to military planes. “President Trump sends a strong and clear message to the whole world: if you enter the United States of America illegally, you will face serious consequences,” he wrote.
Mr Trump described the deported as “criminals”.
The use of military aircraft to transport people expelled from the United States, which was authorized by Mr Trump through executive order, emerged as a key part of fulfilling a promise of campaign to execute sweeping deportations. But Trump’s administration has also made it clear that it will not send military planes without the approval of the country.
Defense Minister Robert Salesses said the military planes would be used to transport more than 5,000 people under the curation of US border patrol.
Two military planes arrived in Guatemala on Friday, carrying 160 immigrants arrested after crossing the border, including women and children.
Several Latin America governments have expressed their concern about the treatment of immigrants who are now deported. “What happened on this flight was a violation of rights,” said Macaé Evaristo, Minister of Human Rights of Brazil, hours before Mr Petro spoke.
Honduras has also cited the need to protect the citizens and President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, said: “What are we asking for?”
Experts say that Mr Trump’s harsh response to Mr Petro can have a cold effect on other leaders in the area as they weigh their own actions.
Mr Trump’s rapid threat to impose significant invoices on Colombia, which was historically the most powerful ally of the United States in the region, marks that the immigration agenda will be the top priority in diplomatic relations in the hemisphere, said Will Freeman Associate for Latin American studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“A previous administration that saw that as a concern, among other things, he would walk much more carefully now with Colombia,” Mr Freeman said. “But I think the fact that Trump does this really shows that he sees it as his first priority.”
At the moment, Colombia seems to be intention to avoid another struggle with the United States.
“We will have clear protocols so that this will not happen again,” said Murillo, the outgoing foreign minister.
Trump’s administration was clearly satisfied with the outcome of the short if its strong conflict with Colombia. “America becomes respected again,” he said.
While Colombia stood to lose more than the United States, if prices were imposed on both countries, experts say Colombia’s alienation, a significant advantage for US businesses, could push it closer to China, Its second largest commercial partner, which invites invasions across Latin America.
As Mr Trump and Mr Petro’s dispute escalated on Sunday, China’s ambassador to Colombia told the social media that the two countries “are at the best of our diplomatic relations”.
They were caught in the middle were the Colombian departs who were on the air on their way to Colombia when Mr Petro turned the military planes back. Some are said to have arrived in Colombia as early as Monday night on a Colombia plane.
Mr Petro was still publishing his views.
“The solution to illegal immigration,” wrote, “is not just to displace people and criminalize them.”
The report was contributed by Jorge Valencia From Bogota. Federico rios by Medellín and Emiliano Rodríguez Mega from the city of Mexico.
