Colombian President tries puffing his chest in defiance, Trump has him doing a 180

The president proved he was taking a “FAFO” approach to his second term with a cheeky response after triggering a meltdown from Colombia and putting “the rest of this hemisphere on notice.”

President Donald Trump made clear he would be laying down the law when it came to addressing the border crisis and other nations would be penalized for not playing ball. Sunday, he launched a tariff and sanction response to Colombia for refusing repatriation flights.

According to the White House, Colombian President Gustavo Petro ultimately caved “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.”

“Based on this agreement, the fully drafted IEEPA tariffs and sanctions will be held in reserve, and not signed, unless Colombia fails to honor this agreement,” the statement from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt detailed. “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.”

“Today’s events make clear to the world that America is respected again,” added the White House. “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.”

The Colombian government confirmed this in its own statement that explained, “The Government of Colombia, under the direction of President Gustavo Petro, has arranged the presidential plane to facilitate the dignified return of the compatriots who were going to arrive in the country today in the morning, coming from deportation flights.”

“This measure responds to the Government’s commitment to guarantee decent conditions,” expressed the government.

The response from Petro was a quick turnabout after the leader issued a rant on X following his initial decision to block the flights from the United States.

“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,” he expressed having imposed his own 25% tariff that he raised to 50%.

A translation of his X post read in part, “You can try to carry out a coup with your economic strength and your arrogance like they did with [former Chilean President Salvador] Allende. But I will die in my law, I resisted torture and I resist you. I don’t want slavers next to Colombia, we already had many and we freed ourselves. What I want next to Colombia are lovers of freedom. If you can’t accompany me, I’ll go elsewhere. Colombia is the heart of the world and you didn’t understand that, this is the land of the yellow butterflies, of the beauty of Remedios, but also of the colonels Aureliano Buendía, of which I am one, perhaps the last.”

“You will kill me, but I will survive in my people, which is before yours, in the Americas. We are peoples of the winds, the mountains, the Caribbean Sea, and of freedom,” Petro went on. “You don’t like our freedom, okay. I don’t shake hands with white slavers. I shake hands with the white libertarian heirs of Lincoln and the black and white farm boys of the USA, at whose graves I cried and prayed on a battlefield, while I reached after walking the mountains of Italian Tuscany and after being saved from Covid.”

As for Trump, upon learning of the blocked flights, he was quick to post on Truth Social that a 25% tariff would be increased to 50% within a week in addition to sanctions and a travel ban on Colombian officials and allies.

“These measures are just the beginning. 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!” wrote the President.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection shared Trump’s post and detailed that “decisive measures” included, “Enhanced inspections of flights, private aircraft, & cargo to/from Colombia…Denying boarding to flagged visa holders…Enforcing the travel ban on Colombian officials [with] DOS coordination.”

Likewise, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-KY) posted on X, “Colombia and all nations should be on notice — Congress is fully prepared to pass sanctions and other measures against those that do not fully cooperate or follow through on requirements to accept their citizens who are illegally in the United States.”

“President Trump is putting America first, just like he said he would. And Congress will implement policies that reinforce his agenda,” he noted.

Speaking on CNN’s Newsroom, commentator Scott Jennings remarked, “Donald Trump said we’re gonna enter the ‘F’ around and find out portion of this conversation, and he hit him with sanctions and tariffs… He’s putting Colombia, he’s putting the rest of this hemisphere on notice that you are not dealing with the same president that you were.”

(Video Credit: CNN)

“You’re dealing with someone who is taking illegal immigration seriously. Now, within an hour of making that threat, the president of Colombia said, whoa, whoa, whoa, I’ll send my own plane, to pick these people up,” continued Jennings. “This is real leadership. But it sends a message to everybody else in the hemisphere, do not test us. This is not Biden and Harris. This is Trump and Vance. We mean business.”

Dismissing the outrage that many on the left had expressed, the commentator went on to remind on CNN that it was selective for Republican leaders, “And you know what happened under Barack Obama? Actually, he deported millions upon millions of people. And I don’t have any recollection of the U.S. economy collapsing. And no Republican, and I don’t. think most Americans are taking seriously the argument that the U.S. economy is underpinned by violent, criminal, illegal immigrants. I mean, if our entire economy is underpinned by people who are rapists and murderers and commit other violent acts, then, you know, we got a whole other set of issues going on in the economy that we all oughta talk about.”

Meanwhile, Jennings was lauded for his analysis and Trump was celebrated for his actions, the president embraced the “FAFO” characterization of his actions, sharing an image on Truth Social that depicted him with the abbreviation on a sign beside him.

Kevin Haggerty

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