Colombia president says will not accept US deportation flights

Colombia’s left-wing President Gustavo Petro said Sunday he would not allow US migrant deportation flights access to his country’s airspace.

“The United States cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals. I forbid entry to our territory to US planes carrying Colombian migrants,” Petro wrote on X, adding they would only be accepted once Washington had created a protocol ensuring the “dignified treatment” of the migrants.

Petro added in a later post that he had “turned back US military planes that were coming with Colombian migrants,” without giving further details.

AFP could not immediately receive confirmation from the United States that Colombian-bound deportation flights had been blocked.

Petro’s remarks come a day after Brazil’s government similarly expressed outrage at the administration of new US president Donald Trump over the treatment of dozens of Brazilians deported from the United States.

The migrants were handcuffed on the flight in what Brazil called a “flagrant disregard” for their basic rights.

Petro said he would allow in civilian US flights carrying deported migrants as long as they were not treated “like criminals.”