Deportees at the center of Trump’s spat with Colombia: ‘We are not drug traffickers’
EL PAÍS speaks with the migrants deported on the military planes that the Colombian president refused to let land, a decision that nearly triggered a trade war
Carlos Arias never imagined finding himself in the middle of an international conflict between the world’s leading power and his home country, Colombia. On Sunday, he was placed on a military plane, handcuffed and shackled. He and the other 200 deportees were treated “like dogs” by U.S. immigration agents. During the entire journey, they were forced to keep their heads on their knees. If they tried to use the bathroom, they were laughed at. U.S. President Donald Trump called them criminals, while Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, enraged by the undignified treatment, refused to let them land. The situation was repeated with a second flight. Trump then threatened a trade war that could have devastated the Colombian economy. “We were tied up for 12 hours,” Arias recalls. The 34-year-old waiter was treated like a terrorist.
