Colombian air force plane carrying deportees from US lands

Two Air Force Colombian planes sent to the United States to seek deported migrants landed in the capital, Bogotá.

Migrants had been on American military flights heading for Colombia on Sunday when Colombian President Gustavo Petro prohibited American landing planes, arguing that people on board were treated as criminals.

The incident took the two countries on the verge of a trade war after Donaldtrump threatened to impose 25% tariffs on Colombian goods and Petro said he would retaliate in kind.

The diplomats of the two countries have concluded an agreement that saw Colombia send its own air force planes to recover migrants, a process which, according to Petro, assured that they were treated “with dignity”.

“They are Colombians, free and worthy, and in their homeland where they are loved,” he wrote on X.

He also published photos of migrants who descend from the plane without handcuffs.

The treatment of deportees on US military flights seems to have been at the center of the dungeon between the two governments.

Colombia has accepted expulsion flights from the United States in the past: in 2024, 124 planes carrying deported migrants from the United States landed in the country.

But in one of his messages on X on Sunday, Petro referred to a video of news showing migrants expelled from the United States in Brazil, which had been handcuffed and had his feet retained during the expulsion flight.

The Colombian chief said that he “would never allow Colombians to be refined in flights”.

Petro’s refusal to let US military planes angry President Trump, who campaigned on a promise to withdraw illegal migrants from the United States by “mass deportations”.

Trump ordered his administration to “immediately” 25% prices on all Colombian goods in the United States, which, according to him, would increase to 50% after a week.

He also imposed restrictions on visas and other sanctions, in what many observers have estimated was an attempt to send a message to other countries to cooperate or cope with serious consequences.

The spokesperson for the American State Department, Tammy Bruce, told Fox News on Monday that “it was a question of reminding Colombia that there was a price to pay if you go against your agreements , things you promise. “

The United States Embassy in Bogotá canceled hundreds of visa appointments on Monday and Tuesday.

The Colombians arriving at the doors received letters which told them that the cancellation was “due to the refusal of the Colombian government to accept the repatriation flights of the Colombian nationals”, reported the Associated Press.

US officials had declared earlier that visa restrictions are not lifted as long as migrants who had been delivered on Sunday to land in Colombia.

Neither the United States nor the Colombian government has provided details on the agreement that defused the situation.

Pressure secretary of the White House, Karoline Leavitt, wrote in a statement that “the government of Colombia has accepted all the conditions of President Trump, including the without restriction of all illegal foreigners in Colombia has returned from delay”.

Meanwhile, the Colombian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Luis Gilberto Murillo, said that “the impasse” with Washington had been “overcome”.

Murillo added that his government would continue to receive Colombian deportees under “worthy conditions”.

It is currently not clear if Colombia will continue to send Air Force planes to the United States to collect the expelled migrants or if the two Tuesday flights were unique.

The leaders of Central America and South America are expected to discuss how to deal with the Migration policy of the Trump administration at a summit convened by Honduras following the spit in Colombia-US.

President Petro has already confirmed his presence.