The government of Colombia agreed to accept military deportation flights from the US after a major row over the treatment of deported migrants.
In a press statement, Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo said that “we have overcome the impasse with the United States government.”
According to a White House press release, “the Government of Colombia has agreed to all of President Donald Trump’s terms, including the unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on US military aircraft.”
The Colombian Foreign Ministry said that it would guarantee the dignified treatment of deported Colombians and said that the presidential airplane was available to pick up the people who were supposed to have arrived on Sunday.
The agreement came after Trump threatened to impose 50% tariffs on imported Colombian goods and sanctions on government officials, their families and their supporters.
In a response, Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the US president, among other things, a slaver and announced reciprocal tariffs on US imports.
Petro’s open letter to Trump
Following the agreement, the White House said that “the visa sanctions and enhanced inspections from Customs and Border Protection will remain in effect until the first planeload of Colombian deportees is successfully returned.”
Murillo and the ambassador to Washington DC, Daniel Garcia-Peña, will travel to Washington DC “to hold high-level meetings that follow up on the agreements.”
The row between Bogota and Washington DC came after the government of Brazil objected to the treatment of deported citizens, who arrived in South America with hand and leg cuffs.
Inside the US, local authorities expressed objections to the Trump administration’s escalation of raids to detain and deport undocumented migrants.
