Petro prevents the landing of US planes with deportees and Trump responds by freezing the issuance of visas in Bogotá

Before taking this position, Petro had published another message announcing the arrival of two flights from the US and inviting people to welcome the returnees with flags and flowers. Although the message was deleted minutes later.

«In response to President Petro’s refusal to accept two flights with Colombian deportees, which the president had previously authorized and which had been approved at the highest levels of the Government, the United States Embassy in Colombia will close the visa section tomorrow. Additional retaliatory measures will be implemented soon,” explained sources from the Embassy cited by several Colombian media.

Once the retaliation was announced, Petro called attention to the presence of 15,660 Americans “settled in Colombia irregularly,” who “must approach our immigration service to regularize their situation.”

Petro has assured that “you will never see me burning a gringo flag or carrying out a raid to return illegals in handcuffs to the United States.” «True libertarians will never attack human freedom. “We are the opposite of the Nazis,” he argued.

The Colombian president has also referred to the negotiations over Darién. «I hope that the dialogue on Darien does not freeze. If there is no regularization, illegalities will increase. We already saw it when the United States blocked Venezuela and exploded the migratory wave. First is the dignity of Colombia and Latin America. “Migrants are human beings and subjects of rights and should be treated as such.”

Colombia and the United States signed a year ago, before Donald Trump arrived at the White House, a new protocol for the return of Colombians that accelerated the process and expanded the frequency of flights, up to about four a month.

The closure of the visa section, which issues documents so that Colombians can travel to the United States for tourism and also for work and study, constitutes an unprecedented response with a great impact.

Petro’s comments come a day after Brazil’s government similarly expressed outrage at the Trump Administration’s treatment of dozens of Brazilians deported from the United States. The migrants were handcuffed during the flight in what Brazil called a “flagrant disregard” for their basic rights. Petro said he would allow U.S. civilian flights carrying deported immigrants to enter, as long as they are not treated “like criminals.”