FOR JOBS IN THE COCA FIELDS
Associated Press
Fri, January 31, 2025

FILE - Colombia's President Gustavo Petro arrives at the opening ceremony of COP16, a United Nations' biodiversity conference, in Cali, Colombia, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, file)
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia's president is calling on his compatriots working without legal status in the United States to leave their jobs and return home as soon as possible.
“Wealth is only produced by the working people,” Gustavo Petro said in an early morning post on the X platform. “Let's build social wealth in Colombia."
The leftist president said his government would provide loans to those who take up his offer to return home and enlist in one of its programs to start a business.
Petro made his comments following a bitter feud over immigration last weekend with U.S. President Donald Trump that nearly triggered a trade war and rupture in diplomatic relations between the U.S. and its historic ally in South America.
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Petro, in an earlier social media storm, accused the Trump administration of mistreating migrants who entered the U.S. illegally by handcuffing them and removing them on military flights to Latin America. Trump exploded when Petro denied two such flights permission to land.
Later, the two sides negotiated a truce amid protests by investors that Petro was sabotaging Colombia's export economy, which relies heavily on purchases from the U.S.
Colombia accepted 475 deportation flights from the U.S. from 2020 to 2024, fifth behind Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and El Salvador, according to Witness at the Border, an advocacy group that tracks flight data. It accepted 124 deportation flights in 2024.
Colombian president urges undocumented Colombians in US to return
Filip Timotija
Fri, January 31, 2025

Colombian President Gustavo Petro urged undocumented Colombians who are living in the U.S. to return home, saying they would be rewarded for it.
“I ask undocumented Colombians in the U.S. to immediately leave their jobs in that country and return to Colombia as soon as possible,” Petro said in a Friday morning post on social platform X.
“Wealth is produced only by working people,” he added.
Petro said the Colombian Department of Social Prosperity will look to give out loans to those returnees who enroll in the program.
“Let’s build social wealth in Colombia,” he wrote.
The president and his government were engaged in a heated back-and-forth tussle last weekend over immigration and trade.
Petro initially said that U.S. planes carrying Colombian migrants would not be able to land in the country.
President Trump retaliated by threatening to impose a 25 percent tariff on Colombian goods coming into the country while also banning government officials and their family members from being able to travel to the U.S.
Similarly, Petro said Colombia would be instating a 25 percent tariff on goods.
The situation was tentatively resolved Sunday night, when White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed in a statement that the two sides agreed and that Colombia will accept “all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on U.S. military aircraft, without limitation or delay.”
Since then, Colombian planes have been arriving in Bogotá with migrants who Petro said were not “criminals.”
“Our compatriots come from the United States free, dignified, without being handcuffed. We structure a productive, associative and cheap credit plan for migrants,” he said.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá shut down visa appointments for Colombians seeking entry to America over the “Colombian government’s refusal to accept repatriation flights of Colombian nationals.”
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press
Fri, January 31, 2025
FILE - Colombia's President Gustavo Petro arrives at the opening ceremony of COP16, a United Nations' biodiversity conference, in Cali, Colombia, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, file)
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia's president is calling on his compatriots working without legal status in the United States to leave their jobs and return home as soon as possible.
“Wealth is only produced by the working people,” Gustavo Petro said in an early morning post on the X platform. “Let's build social wealth in Colombia."
The leftist president said his government would provide loans to those who take up his offer to return home and enlist in one of its programs to start a business.
Petro made his comments following a bitter feud over immigration last weekend with U.S. President Donald Trump that nearly triggered a trade war and rupture in diplomatic relations between the U.S. and its historic ally in South America.
ADVERTISEMENT
Petro, in an earlier social media storm, accused the Trump administration of mistreating migrants who entered the U.S. illegally by handcuffing them and removing them on military flights to Latin America. Trump exploded when Petro denied two such flights permission to land.
Later, the two sides negotiated a truce amid protests by investors that Petro was sabotaging Colombia's export economy, which relies heavily on purchases from the U.S.
Colombia accepted 475 deportation flights from the U.S. from 2020 to 2024, fifth behind Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and El Salvador, according to Witness at the Border, an advocacy group that tracks flight data. It accepted 124 deportation flights in 2024.
Colombian president urges undocumented Colombians in US to return
Filip Timotija
Fri, January 31, 2025
Colombian President Gustavo Petro urged undocumented Colombians who are living in the U.S. to return home, saying they would be rewarded for it.
“I ask undocumented Colombians in the U.S. to immediately leave their jobs in that country and return to Colombia as soon as possible,” Petro said in a Friday morning post on social platform X.
“Wealth is produced only by working people,” he added.
Petro said the Colombian Department of Social Prosperity will look to give out loans to those returnees who enroll in the program.
“Let’s build social wealth in Colombia,” he wrote.
The president and his government were engaged in a heated back-and-forth tussle last weekend over immigration and trade.
Petro initially said that U.S. planes carrying Colombian migrants would not be able to land in the country.
President Trump retaliated by threatening to impose a 25 percent tariff on Colombian goods coming into the country while also banning government officials and their family members from being able to travel to the U.S.
Similarly, Petro said Colombia would be instating a 25 percent tariff on goods.
The situation was tentatively resolved Sunday night, when White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed in a statement that the two sides agreed and that Colombia will accept “all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on U.S. military aircraft, without limitation or delay.”
Since then, Colombian planes have been arriving in Bogotá with migrants who Petro said were not “criminals.”
“Our compatriots come from the United States free, dignified, without being handcuffed. We structure a productive, associative and cheap credit plan for migrants,” he said.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá shut down visa appointments for Colombians seeking entry to America over the “Colombian government’s refusal to accept repatriation flights of Colombian nationals.”
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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