International

Petro on US deportees: First they arrive without wives and then we talk about business

The President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, said on Tuesday that migrants deported from the United States must arrive in their country without being handcuffed and that once this happens, they will talk about business, while telling his US counterpart, Donald Trump, that his government does not kneel “for the merchandise.”

“Trump thinks we kneel for the merchandise, he thinks we are like him. Watch out! We are different, we are not him, we can understand each other yes, I am not saying no, he has to understand the difference. Progressiveness puts the person above the merchandise. First they arrive without handcuffs and then we talk about business, not the other way around,” Petro said in a council of ministers.

On January 26, Petro did not accept the arrival of two US planes with deported migrants because they were handcuffed.
That triggered a diplomatic crisis that escalated to the point that Trump ordered the imposition of tariffs of 25% on all Colombian products, in addition to other travel and immigration sanctions, and Petro responded with a similar tariff measure.

That same day at night the two governments reached an agreement by which Colombia, according to the White House, accepted “all the terms of President Trump, including the unrestricted acceptance of all illegal foreign immigrants from Colombia returned from the United States, including in military aircraft, without limitations or delays,” but the tension persists in the bilateral relationship.

That is why the Colombian president insisted on Tuesday that his “Government does not kneel” and “follows an international principle”, which is “life” because “Colombia is the heart of the world and therefore must be a world power of life.”

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“Do we kneel before oil, before the power of oil? Don’t we realize what we are? Did we (the Liberator Simón) forget Bolívar, who believed that this was going to be a great power beyond Colombia precisely because we were exuberant? (…) I don’t kneel,” Petro said.

He also invited Latin America to “instead of defending the merchandise”, defend “the person”.

The Trump Administration has launched a campaign against the more than 11 million undocumented migrants in the United States, calling them “criminals” and promising to carry out the largest deportation campaign in the history of that country.

International

Marco Rubio warns Venezuela against military action against Guyana

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Venezuela on Thursday that a military attack on Guyana would be “a big mistake” and “a very bad day for them,” expressing his support for Georgetown in its territorial dispute with Caracas.

“It would be a very bad day for the Venezuelan regime if they attacked Guyana or ExxonMobil. It would be a very bad day, a very bad week for them, and it would not end well,” Rubio emphasized during a press conference in Georgetown alongside Guyanese President Irfaan Ali.

International

Ecuador oil spill worsens as containment dam collapses

The collapse of a containment dam holding back part of the 25,000+ barrels of oil spilled from a pipeline rupture nearly two weeks ago has worsened the environmental crisis in northwestern Ecuador, contaminating rivers and Pacific beaches.

The Ecuadorian government attributed the March 13 pipeline rupture—which led to the spill of 25,116 barrels of crude—to an act of sabotage. The spill affected three rivers and disrupted water supplies for several communities, according to authorities.

On Tuesday, due to heavy rains that have been falling since January, a containment dam on the Caple River collapsed. The Caple connects to other waterways in Esmeraldas Province, a coastal region bordering Colombia, state-owned Petroecuador said in a statement on Wednesday.

Seven containment barriers were installed in the Viche River, where crews worked to remove oil-contaminated debris. Additional absorbent materials were deployed in Caple, Viche, and Esmeraldas Rivers, which flow into the Pacific Ocean.

Authorities are also working to protect a wildlife refuge home to more than 250 species, including otters, howler monkeys, armadillos, frigatebirds, and pelicans.

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“This has been a total disaster,” said Ronald Ruiz, a leader in the Cube community, where the dam was located. He explained that the harsh winter rains caused river levels to rise, bringing debris that broke the containment barriersthat were holding the accumulated oil for extraction.

International

Federal court blocks Trump’s use of Enemy Alien Act for deportations

A federal appeals court upheld the block on former President Donald Trump’s use of the Enemy Alien Act on Wednesday, preventing him from using the law to expedite deportations of alleged members of the transnational criminal group Tren de Aragua.

With a 2-1 ruling, a panel from the Washington, D.C. Court of Appeals affirmed previous decisions by two lower court judges, maintaining the legal standoff between the White House and the judiciary.

On March 14, Trump invoked the 1798 Enemy Alien Act, a law traditionally used during wartime, to deport hundreds of Venezuelans whom he accused of belonging to Tren de Aragua, a criminal organization that originated in Venezuelan prisons.

The centuries-old law grants the president the power to detain, restrict, and expel foreign nationals from a country engaged in a “declared war” or an “invasion or predatory incursion” against the United States, following a public proclamation.