Update: LAC

This is from La Jornada (quite a mouthpiece locally in Mexico but at least we get the facts that are being omitted in the US, under a blanket of “He Caved”.  (I made some changes to the translation where it was not clear).

https://www.jornada.com.mx/noticia/2025/01/27/editorial/trump-contra-colombia-3736

Featured image:  Petro’s election in 2022.

NO!  PETRO DID NOT CAVE.  HE IS ACCEPTING THE MIGRANTS WITH DIGNITY (OF COURSE THIS WAS NEVER THE ISSUE), AND THE ECONOMIC TO AND FRO TARIFFS REMAIN.

Racist speech promoted by the new government of the United States against migrants in their country was found yesterday a turning point in the decision of the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, not to allow the arrival of flights with expelled migrants because they were not being treated with the dignity that a human being deserves. The previous day, the president of Brazil, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, demanded explanations for the degrading treatment of 88 Brazilian citizens deported the day before, to which Washington sent back to their country in military aircraft and traveled bound hand and foot and spent several hours without air conditioning, without being able to drink water or go to the bathroom during the flight.

The situation quickly escalated: In response, Donald Trump announced the imposition of tariffs on Colombian exports and the suspension of visa delivery for part of Petro’s consular services in the South American nation, to which Petro replied that it would take reciprocal measures. In addition, an emergency meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) was called for Thursday to analyze the aggressiveness of the new U.S. government against migrant workers.

For the LAC, it is not about expelling migrants, it is about the treatment of humans and the racist calling of all as criminals.  It is about respect.   Here is a translated quote from President Petro:

Our compatriots come from the United States free, dignified, without being handcuffed. We structure a productive, associative and cheap credit plan for migrants The migrant is not a criminal, he is a free human being.

Hours later, the Palace of Nariño announced that it had “overcome the impasse” and that the presidential plane of Petro was ready to transport deported Colombians, by ensuring the proper conditions as subjects of law and the trip of a government team from Bogota to Washington headed by the foreign minister Luis Gilberto Murillo to hold high-level meetings and follow up on agreements and that it will keep the diplomatic channels of dialogue between the two countries.

For its part, the White House issued a press release in which it said that the government of Colombia had “agreed to all the terms of President Trump, including the acceptance unrestricted of illegal Colombians returned to the United States, including (to be made) aircraft US military, without limitation or delay”. 

Tariffs and other trade sanctions would remain disrupted, but that the suspension of visas and customs inspections reinforced Colombian products would continue until the last load of Colombians deported is successfully returned.

The episode would be a move characteristic of Trump: to carry out an aggressive action against another country, to provoke a crisis, start a negotiation, and, before it ends, proclaim that he has defeated his counterpart. However, the infamous provocation of chained deported and transported to their countries of origin as if they were roped slaves has generated an outrage that transcends the realm of Colombia and the initial response of Petro. For more, that are essentially propaganda products to sustain his image as a hard man, these shenanigans of Trump have the potential to provoke a crisis diplomatic and economic, that certainly have a high cost for the countries that are involved in them, but that, taken together, do no more than emphasize the isolation of Washington and weakening as hegemon of the world. With all its military might, economic, diplomatic, and technological, the United States can’t fight at the same time with its business partners in this continent –starting with the most important, which are Mexico and Canada, Europe, and Asia without going into a rapid decline that would not be good for anyone.

Certainly, the Washington government has the legal authority to dictate policies antimigration inhumane and ruthless in their own territory, but not to violate the human rights of any person, U.S. or foreign, documented or undocumented, or to behave with bravado transgressive with the rest of the planet. In the end, their predecessors, democrats Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden, expelled most foreign workers that Trump, and this did not produce a diplomatic crisis whatsoever.

Columbian President Gustavo Petro welcomes the ‘free, dignified’ compatriots deported from the US