“Undocumented” Colombians working in the US ought to “return as soon as possible”, the nation’s president has mentioned.
Gustavo Petro additionally mentioned his authorities would offer loans to those that take up his provide to return house and be part of one in all its programmes to begin a enterprise.
“Wealth is produced only by the working people,” the leftist president commented on X.
“Let’s build social wealth in Colombia.”
His feedback comply with an argument with Donald Trump about deportations of unlawful Colombian migrants from the US.
The brand new US president threatened a commerce struggle after Colombia refused to just accept deportees.
Mr Trump mentioned he would retaliate with “urgent and decisive” measures – together with 25% emergency tariffs on Colombian items – after the South American nation turned away two US army planes.
Migrants onboard had been being deported as a part of Mr Trump’s immigration crackdown.
The White Home later mentioned Colombia had backed down.
It added that the Colombian authorities had “agreed to all of President Trump’s terms” together with the “unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on US military aircraft, without limitation or delay”.
Picture:
Donald Trump on the White Home on Thursday. Pic: AP
Mr Petro’s preliminary response had been bullish. “Your blockade does not scare me,” he wrote on X, “because Colombia, in addition to being the country of beauty, is the heart of the world”.
He additionally commented: “I don’t really like travelling to the US, it’s a bit boring.”
However a truce was negotiated following protests by buyers involved by the well being of Colombia’s export economic system, which depends closely on purchases from the US.
Colombia accepted 475 deportation flights from the US from 2020 to 2024.
That put it fifth behind Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and El Salvador, in line with Witness on the Border, an advocacy group that tracks flight information.
It accepted 124 deportation flights in 2024.
