By Felix Okubasu
Two Colombian air force planes sent to the US to fetch deported migrants landed in the capital, Bogotá.
The migrants were in the US military flights headed for Colombia on Sunday, when Colombian President Gustavo Petro barred the US military aircraft from landing, arguing that those on board were being treated like criminals.
The incident took the two countries to the brink of a trade war after Donald Trump threatened to impose 25% tariffs on Colombian goods and Petro said he would retaliate in kind.
Diplomats from both countries reached a deal which has seen Colombia send its own air force planes to collect the migrants, a process that Petro said ensured they were treated “with dignity”.
The treatment of deportees on US military flights seems to have been at the centre of the spat between the two governments.
Colombia has accepted deportation flights from the US in the past: in 2024, where 124 planes carrying deported migrants from the US landed in the country.
The Colombian leader said that he would “never allow Colombians to be returned handcuffed on flights”.
Petro’s refusal to let the US military aircraft land angered President Trump, who campaigned on a promise to remove unlawful migrants from the US through “mass deportations”.
Trump directed his administration to “immediately” slap 25% tariffs on all Colombian goods coming into the US, which he said would increase to 50% after a week.
He also imposed visa restrictions and other sanctions, in what many observers felt was an attempt to send a message to other countries to co-operate or face serious consequences.
