Colombia’s leftist president, Gustavo Petro, had earlier said he would only take back citizens “with dignity,“ such as on civilian planes, and had turned back two US military aircraft with repatriated Colombians.
Petro initially sought to hit back and impose his own tariffs on US products, but by the end of the volatile Sunday he had backed down.
A White House statement said that Colombia has agreed to “unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on US military aircraft, without limitation or delay.”
“President Trump will continue to fiercely protect our nation’s sovereignty, and he expects all other nations of the world to fully cooperate in accepting the deportation of their citizens illegally present in the United States.”
It had been unclear even earlier how quickly Trump could impose tariffs on Colombia, historically one of Washington’s closest allies in Latin America, which enjoys a free-trade agreement with the United States.
The White House said the visa measures would stay in place until the first planeload of deportees returns.
Concerns over treatment
While some countries including Guatemala have accepted military deportation flights, Trump had faced resistance from Petro, a former guerrilla elected in 2022 as Colombia’s first left-wing leader.
The Colombian government earlier said it was instead ready to send its presidential plane to the United States to transport the migrants “with dignity.”
Petro’s initial hard-ball tactics infuriated his many critics in the historic US ally.
‘Tied hands and feet’
Brazil, which is also led by a left-wing president, voiced outrage over treatment by the Trump administration of dozens of Brazilian migrants deported back to their country on Friday.
Edgar Da Silva Moura, a 31-year-old computer technician who was among the 88 deported migrants, told AFP: “On the plane they didn’t give us water, we were tied hands and feet, they wouldn’t even let us go to the bathroom.”
The president of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, called for an urgent meeting of leaders from the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) to take place Thursday in Tegucigalpa to discuss migration following the latest US moves.
While previous US administrations also routinely carried out deportations, the Trump administration has begun using military aircraft, with at least one landing in Guatemala this week.
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