Colombia’s president refuses deportation flights. Trump starts making an example of him
Gustavo Petro, the current president of Colombia, is an unpopular guy in his home country, with a 26% public approval rating.
A radical socialist with the Hugo Chavez bug in him, he's made a shambles of its economy, and is gradually dismantling the country's democratic institutions.
Now he's made the mistake of messing with President Trump over repatriation flights for Colombia's illegals, which he had actually approved in advance -- and the response was swift.
According to Reuters:
WASHINGTON/BOGOTA (Reuters) -President Donald Trump said on Sunday he would impose sweeping retaliatory measures on Colombia, including tariffs and sanctions, after the South American country turned away two U.S. military aircraft with migrants being deported as part of the new U.S. administration's immigration crackdown.
Trump's swift retaliatory action appeared aimed at making an example of Colombia to dissuade other countries from defying him on deportation flights. It also showed a renewed willingness to use the might of the United States to force other countries to bend to his will.
Trump said the refusal by Colombian President Gustavo Petro to accept the flights jeopardized U.S. national security and he has directed his administration to take retaliatory measures.
They include imposing emergency 25% tariffs on all goods coming into the United States, which will go up to 50% in one week; a travel ban and visa revocations on Colombian government officials and its allies; fully imposing emergency treasury, banking and financial sanctions. He said he would also direct enhanced border inspections of Colombian nationals and cargo.
"These measures are just the beginning," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States!"
Which directly contradicts Petro's pope-like claim that the returning illegal migrants were not criminals, and putting them on a military jet was "undignified."
If he had the brains to read the news, he would have learned that Trump's policy for deportation is 'criminals first.' The first returns would have had to have been actual criminals who have commited crimes against Americans and who may be getting off easy by being shipped back instead of doing time in jails.
Here's what he said:
Los EEUU no pueden tratar como delincuentes a los migrantes Colombianos.
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) January 26, 2025
Desautorizo la entrada de aviones norteamericanos con migrantes colombianos a nuestro territorio.
EEUU debe establecer un protocolo de tratamiento digno a los migrantes antes que los recibamos nosotros.
Google Translate:
The US cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals. I deny the entry of American planes carrying Colombian migrants into our territory. The United States must establish a protocol for the dignified treatment of migrants before we receive them.
And Petro just couldn't shut his trap, throwing out fresh threats Trump's way:
Hay 15.660 estadounidenses establecidos en Colombia de manera irregular. Deben acercase a nuestro servicio migratorio para regularizar su situación.
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) January 26, 2025
Espero que no se congele el dialogo sobre el Darien. Si no hay regularización aumentarán las ilegalidades. Ya lo vimos cuando EEUU…
Google Translate:
There are 15,660 Americans living in Colombia illegally. They should contact our immigration service to regularize their situation. I hope that the dialogue on Darien does not freeze. If there is no regularization, illegal activities will increase. We already saw this when the US blockaded Venezuela and caused the wave of migration. First, it is the dignity of Colombia and Latin America. Migrants are human beings and subjects of rights and should be treated as such.
Who cares? If they're illegals, ours or theirs, ship them back.
Petro's claim that military flights were undignified was absurd, too. He demanded civilian flights. Perhaps he can pick them up himself if that's what's bugging him. But more to the point, military flights are not prison flights, which are indeed civilian. Perhaps Trump can arrange one of those, a plane emblazened with 'prison' on it for the repatriated which is fully civilian. But I suspect he hates the military flights for other reasons -- among them, the ease of depositing the deported into Gitmo if he won't take them.
A former Marxist narcoguerrilla from a foul, murderous group known as M-19 -- he probably just objects to U.S. military airplanes on Colombian soil, given how it might upset his best friend forever, Marxist narcodictator Nicolas Maduro of next-door Venezuela.
Thus far, Trump has had no reported problems from Maduro on repatriation flights, but Maduro is believed to be pretty scared of Trump, who tried to overthrow him earlier, and he wants things from the U.S., such as more oil drilling waivers from the U.S., more U.S. banking privileges, and an end to sanctions from the U.S.
Petro, though, is a Marxist jackass, a preening pawn, a clown dictator in the making.
There are actually a lot of things Trump can be doing to make an example of him, given the longstanding U.S.-Colombian ties and military involvement. Trump did say that the sanctions he initiated were just the beginning.
Trump also could:
Suspend commercial flights.
Suspend the U.S.-Colombia free trade treaty.
Sanction Petro hard than he already has, yanking visas, study abroad, banking, and a host of other exchanges, not just for Petro and his inner circle, but for all his relatives, which would create an outcry.
Tax remittances to Colombia at 100%. Colombia gets about 3% of its GDP from remittances, and two-thirds of its $10 billion haul comes from the U.S.
Suspend $400 million in foreign aid.
Reveal Petro's many secrets and scandals, which must be known to U.S. intelligence, including the extent of which Petro and his allies are benefiting from the illegal alien human trafficking trade. Mary Anastasia O'Grady wrote an excellent piece about that two years ago here.
Bankroll his opposition.
Jail a few relatives in the states for drugs or whatever, as has been done with Maduro's.
Consult newly elected Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio for more ideas about how to deal with Petro -- as he is extremely well connected with Colombia's sensible elites.
Trump holds all the cards here and Petro is doing this foolish move from a very weak position, facing a huge migrant wave from Maduro which will strain Colombia's finances and which is unpopular with the public. It's happening as talented locals are leaving. To pick a fight with the U.S., which Venezuelan observers see as a bid to impress Maduro, can only make Petro even more unpopular than he already is, and ensure his complete wipeout in the next election of 2026.
Visegrad reports that he is already starting to cave:
BREAKING:
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) January 26, 2025
An hour after Trump’s threat to place tariffs on Colombia for not receiving Trump’s deportation flights, the far-left President Gustavo Petro caves in and say he will send the presidential plane to bring back the illegal Colombian migrant
🇺🇸🇨🇴 pic.twitter.com/TS5WOm1ZUH
Trump should hit him harder, to ensure he understands who he's dealing with. If he wants to make a nuisance of himself, he's the living embodiment of FAFO, and he needs to show all of them that illegal immigration to the U.S. is about to come to an end and only a fool would mess with him.
Image: Screen shot from Tercer Canal video, via YouTube