Latin American leaders are learning how to handle Trump. Colombia’s president showed how not to do it
CNN
A simmering diplomatic stand-off over deportation flights spilled onto social media Sunday, threatening the once close relationship between the US and Colombia and further exposing the anxiety many feel in Latin America towards a second Trump presidency.
A simmering diplomatic stand-off over deportation flights spilled onto social media Sunday, threatening the once close relationship between the United States and Colombia and further exposing the anxiety many feel in Latin America toward a second Trump presidency. Angered by how deportees were being returned with their hands bound aboard military flights, Colombian President Gustavo Petro turned back two of the flights that were already in the air and heading to the South American nation, catching the Trump administration by surprise. In several posts on X, he announced he was blocking US military deportation flights. Petro later directed a post at US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, warning, “I will never allow Colombians to be brought in handcuffs on flights. Marco, if officials from the Foreign Ministry allowed this, it would never be under my direction.” It was a bold position – and one he would soon be forced to back down from. The sudden rift between the United States and Colombia, which has long been a major recipient of US military aid and until now had accepted deportation flights, immediately galvanized a region struggling over how to respond to the new US president. Trump has vowed to deport scores of immigrants back to Latin American nations, carry out cross border attacks on Mexican drug cartels, increase economic sanctions on leftist governments in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, and seize control of the Panama Canal. Some regional leaders were quick to cheer the Colombian on. “Our support to President Gustavo Petro in his worthy defense of the rights of Colombians and his response to the discriminatory treatment and blackmail with which they intend to pressure his people and Our America,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel wrote on X.
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