
Published 27/01/2025 10:10 | Edited 27/01/2025 19:02
Colombian President Gustavo Petro and US representative Donald Trump reached an agreement on Sunday about the acceptance of flights with deported migrants. Consensus has avoided climbing commercial and political tensions between the two countries. Trump had threatened to impose up to 50% rates on Colombian products and sanction Petro government officials after Bogota refuses US military aircraft transporting deported.
Petro responded to Trump’s offensive with a blunt letter, which is already considered historical. In the text, the Colombian President not only criticized US migratory policies, but also reaffirmed the resistance of the Colombian people against any attempt to submission to imperialism. “You can try to knock me down, President [Trump]But the Americas and humanity will answer, ”wrote Petro.
The crisis began when Colombia refused the landing of two US military aircraft carrying deported migrants. In his official X account, Petro criticized the way the US government treated the deported Colombians and required the US to establish a decent treatment protocol for migrants before accepting them back.
“The US cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals. Disagree with the entry of US aircraft with Colombian migrants into our territory, ”he said.
Trump, in reaction, threatened to apply severe sanctions, including:
– 25% emergency rates, with an increase to 50% in one week, over all Colombian exports;
– Sanctions of visas and financial restrictions for allies of the Petro government;
-Strict customs inspections of cargo and Colombian citizens in US territory
– Economic blockages supported by the International Emergency Economic Powers Law (IEEPA).
These measures threatened to collapse crucial sectors of the Colombian economy, such as agribusiness, mining and textile industry, responsible for millions of jobs. According to analysts, the imposition of these sanctions could compromise about 4% of Colombian GDP, revealing the country’s historical dependence on the United States, which absorb one third of its exports.
During the height of the crisis, Petro published an open letter to Trump that rescued the history of struggle of the Colombian people and reaffirmed national sovereignty. The text, marked by challenging Tom, denounced Washington’s imperialist logic and defended the rights of migrants as a central question.
“You can try to knock me down, president, but the Americas and humanity will answer,” wrote Petro, in a stretch that synthesizes his posture. He also pointed out that Colombia “is not an inferior race” and that Colombians “will never accept submission to foreign powers.”
The president took advantage of the letter to criticize the historical exploitation suffered by Latin America and remembered episodes such as the loss of the Panama Canal and the massacres perpetrated in Bocas Del Toro, present -day Panama, then Colombian territory. “We have had many slaves next to our land and set free. What I want alongside Colombia are lovers of freedom, ”he said.
Petro Ambonmented used the letter to reject the criminalization narrative of migrants, evoking dignity as an unenforceable principle. “We true libertarians will never assault human freedom. We are the opposite of the Nazis, ”said Petro, alluding directly to the dehumanization imposed by Trump’s migratory policies.
Read here, in full, the letter of the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, to the president of the United States, Donald Trump.
The letter was widely reverberated by international vehicles such as The New York Times, Reuters and El Diario Financiero (Chile), which exalted Petro’s resistance and described the episode as a watershed in the historical relationship between Colombia and the United States.
Celac has called for an extraordinary meeting to discuss US migratory policies and their effects on Latin American countries. The meeting, led by Honduras, will be held next Thursday (30) and will have as its main agenda the strengthening of the regional unit in the face of challenges imposed by US imperialism.
Meanwhile, sectors of Colombian opposition, including mayors of large cities such as Medellin and Cali, defended closer approach to the United States and suggested direct negotiations with Trump, a posture criticized as subservient by political analysts.
Colombia’s political and financial elite, historically subservient to US interests, has consolidated decades of economic dependence and diplomatic submission that made advances in national sovereignty. With Gustavo Petro, the first left -wing president of the country, this logic begins to be challenged, marking a break with automatic alignment to Washington and strengthening the search for an independent foreign policy.
During the escalation of the crisis, Petro proposed to Colombians a movement of appreciation of the domestic market, encouraging the consumption of national products as a way to mitigate the impacts of the sanctions imposed by Trump. At the same time, their ministries intensified efforts to diversify exports in the country, seeking to expand business relations with Asian markets such as China and India, and strengthening regional partnerships in Latin America and the European Union.
The answer has shown a pragmatic strategy to reduce the historical dependence of the United States and open new ways to the Colombian economy in a scenario of growing international tension.
Also read: Government asks for explanations to the US for treatment to deported Brazilians
Read also: Government determines removal of handcuffs from USA from the USA
Source: vermelho.org.br