Colombia Turns Away Repatriation Flights from USA

By order of President Gustavo Petro, Columbia refused to allow two repatriation flights from the USA to land. Unlike previous repatriation flights, these were on military aircraft without authorization by Colombia.

During the Biden Administration, Colombia accepted repatriations from the USA which were on commercial or charter flights. Donald Trump sent two repatriation flights without advance notice on military aircraft. It is international standard practice that military aircraft do not land in a foreign country without permission except in an emergency.

Through a series of posts on X, Petro said Colombia will not accept military deportation flights from the USA until Trump’s White House establishes a process to treat Colombian migrants with “dignity and respect.”

Petro’s exact words were, “I do not authorize the entry of North American planes carrying Colombian migrants into our territory. The U.S. must establish a protocol of dignified treatment of migrants before we receive them. I cannot make migrants stay in a country that does not want them, but if that country sends them back, it should be with dignity and respect for them and for our country.”

He clarified that he would allow civilian airplanes carrying deportees to land, but not military aircraft, and Columbia will not treat any arriving deportees “like criminals.”

Petro is Colombia’s first leftist president. On X, he mentioned more than 15,600 USA citizens live in Colombia without proper documentation. He will not return then to the USA as prisoners because his government is “the opposite of Nazis.”

The flights diverted to Honduras. Columbia sent its presidential plane there to retrieve them.

The two flights brought 108 men, 77 women (two of them pregnant) and 21 children. None were criminals.

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