Colombia announced late on Sunday that it would send Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo and an emergency delegation to Washington, DC, to resolve the diplomatic crisis caused by radical leftist President Gustavo Petro’s blocking a flight of deportees from the United States.
Petro, a proud member of the now-defunct M19 Marxist terrorist guerrilla group, blocked the flight claiming that it was inhumane to the illegal migrants that President Donald Trump was sending home. The situation escalated rapidly as Trump responded with a barrage of retaliatory measures including 25-percent tariffs on all Colombian goods and a travel ban on Colombian government officials. Petro quickly relented, but not before publishing an extensive and poorly worded statement on Twitter that accused Trump of racism and invited the American president, who famously does not consume alcohol, to share a glass of whisky and talk about the perils of fossil fuels.
The White House confirmed that it would pause the tariffs following Petro’s capitulation, but Colombian government officials would be banned from America until “the first planeload of Colombian deportees is successfully returned.”
Foreign Minister Murillo’s announced trip would presumably take place after Trump lifts the restrictions.
Several Petro administration officials appeared standing somberly in a video on Sunday in which Murillo declared that Bogotá and Washington had “overcome the impasse” regarding migrant flights.
“In this context, Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo and Ambassador Daniel García-Peña will travel to the city of Washington in the coming days to hold high-level meetings to follow up on the agreements resulting from the joint work that took place through diplomatic notes between the governments,” the statement affirmed.
“We will continue to receive Colombians who return as deportees, guaranteeing them dignified conditions as citizens with rights,” Murillo continued. “The government of Colombia, under the direction of President Gustavo Petro, has made the presidential plane available to facilitate the return of [Colombian] nationals who were going to arrive today in the country on deportation flights, tomorrow.”
The sudden declaration that Colombia’s diplomats would take the fore on the crisis effectively removes from the negotiations Petro himself, who proved to be a hindrance to bilateral communication after publishing a tirade of insults against Trump on social media on Sunday.
“I don’t like your oil, Trump, it will end the human species out of greed,” Petro wrote. “Perhaps one day, along with a glass of whiskey that I accept despite my gastritis, we can talk frankly about that, but it is difficult because you consider me an inferior race than you and I am not, nor is any Colombian.”
Petro also described America as “boring” and referenced the 1927 execution of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. On the other hand, Petro attempted to compliment the United States by proclaiming himself a fan of “Walt Withman” [sic].
Petro concluded by predicting that Trump would assassinate him.
The unhinged rant – not uncommon for Petro – was a response to Trump posting his own message on social media listing retaliatory measures should Petro insist on not accepting deportees from the United States.
The full list of sanctions as detailed by Trump featured:
-Emergency 25% tariffs on all goods coming into the United States. In one week, the 25% tariffs will be raised to 50%.
-A Travel Ban and immediate Visa Revocations on the Colombian Government Officials, and all Allies and Supporters.
-Visa Sanctions on all Party Members, Family Members, and Supporters of the Colombian Government.
-Enhanced Customs and Border Protection Inspections of all Colombian Nationals and Cargo on national security grounds.
-IEEPA Treasury, Banking and Financial Sanctions to be fully imposed.
The State Department separately announced that it would suspend visa issuances at its embassy in Bogotá.
“Measures will continue until Colombia meets its obligations to accept the return of its own citizens. America will not back down when it comes to defending its national security interests,” the State Department affirmed in a statement.
Shortly after Petro published his diatribe, Bogotá announced it would accept the flights. United States officials subsequently announced they would not immediately impose retaliatory measures.
“The Government of Colombia has agreed to all of President Trump’s terms, including the unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on U.S. military aircraft, without limitation or delay,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed in a statement on Sunday night.
“The visa sanctions issued by the State Department, and enhanced inspections from Customs and Border Protection, will remain in effect until the first planeload of Colombian deportees is successfully returned,” she added.
Leavitt concluded:
Today’s events make clear to the world that America is respected again. President Trump will continue to fiercely protect our nation’s sovereignty, and he expects all other nations of the world to fully cooperate in accepting the deportation of their citizens illegally present in the United States.
Petro faced widespread resistance at home to his plan to antagonize one of Colombia’s top trade partners.
“This is like a nuclear bomb in this poor country,” an anonymous former high-ranking Colombian official lamented to the magazine Semana. Another top official, Luis Fernando Mejía, of the federal development agency Fedesarrollo, described the tariff proposed as potentially having “extremely grave consequences for our external balance” and inflation.
Democratic Center, the top opposition party in Colombia, published a statement condemning Petro for pursuing closer ties to authoritarian Venezuela and breaking ties with the United States.
“We cannot forget that in the last 30 months, over 2 million Colombians have left the country with no intent to return,” the party statement, signed by its leader, former President Álvaro Uribe, said.
The statement continued:
The major cause has been the destruction of our economy and the weakening of our security due to the national government’s decisions. They use the deportees to obscure the destructive advance of the current government, which has in its wake destroyed the relationship with the United States.
Petro’s catastrophic handling of the Colombia-U.S. relationship follows the leftist leader similarly cratering ties to Israel, one of Colombia’s most long-standing allies and a core national security partner. Petro used the occasion of “International Workers’ Day” or “May Day,” a global Marxist holiday, to announce that he would end diplomatic contact with Israel and instead recognize “Palestine” as a country, supporting the terror organization Hamas in its jihad to destroy the nation of Israel.
“We greatly appreciate the position of Colombian President Gustavo Petro which we consider a victory for the sacrifices of our people and their just cause,” Hamas said in a statement at the time.
The move followed Petro turning to Twitter in the days immediately after the Hamas invasion and slaughter on October 7, 2023, to compare Israel to Nazi Germany.
Petro’s Foreign Ministry wrestling the soapbox away from him on U.S. relations appears to be a move to limit his public statements after most of the nation’s political establishment expressed alarm and embarrassment at his handling of the deportation flight affair. It also follows years of embarrassing statements by the president, including some in which he admitted to imbibing alcohol prior to his remarks. In 2022, for example, then-candidate Petro appeared before a crowd and rambled incoherently about turning Colombia “red,” referring to communist ideology. Petro ultimately apologized for allegedly failing to properly digest his alcohol after some travel.
Colombians have accused Petro on several other occasions of appearing inebriated in public, though not with confirmation, as occurred in the 2022 incident.
