Early Sunday morning, the socialist president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, sent two U.S. military planes back to their bases, refusing to let them land in his country. They were carrying Colombian nationals, all of whom had been in our country illegally and had been convicted of other crimes. They were being flown back to their homes because we do not want them in the U.S.
Petro refused to take them, citing spurious concern for the criminals’ dignity. “We will not accept a single deportee from the United States on military planes,” Petro said in a statement. “We reject the militarization of migration policy, which is contrary to human rights and international law. Colombia will not be complicit in such actions.” It was ironic and not a little grating to hear this deprecation of the military from a man who was himself a member of an armed guerrilla movement, or terrorist, depending on your point of view.
Trump responded with a statement threatening a 25% tariff on all Colombian goods coming into the U.S., an immediate travel ban and visa revocation for all Colombian officials, and enhanced U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspection of all incoming Colombian cargo and personnel.
Petro at first retaliated with his own 25% tariff threat and salvo of cheap rhetoric: “I do not shake hands with white enslavers. … If you know anyone stubborn, that’s me. I will die for my principles.”
But less than an hour and a half later, he caved in completely and did the right thing. The White House announced that “the Government of Colombia has agreed to all of President Trump’s terms, including the unrestricted acceptance of illegal aliens from Colombia from the United States, including on U.S. military aircraft, without limitation or delay.”
Petro reposted the White House statement on X, which is the functional equivalent of crying uncle.
In exchange for agreeing to let U.S. military resume deportation flights to Colombia, Trump said he would not go ahead with his threatened tariffs. But the visa revocations and enhanced border inspections remain in effect until the first planeload of deportees touches down in Bogota and the criminals on board are accepted by the country of which they are citizens.
Petro’s position was always as weak as his grasp of the relevant facts. A proud socialist who was once a member of the violent M-19 movement, Petro’s regime has been mired in corruption scandals and enjoys support from only 34% of his people. He was desperate to pick a fight but appears not to have noticed the change of administration in Washington and picked the wrong leader to spar with. He would probably have succeeded better with former President Joe Biden, but then Biden, of course, would not have sent the Colombian criminals home.
While Trump’s threatened tariffs didn’t even last until halftime in the NFC championship game, Democrats nevertheless took full advantage of the brief window available to make fools of themselves by predicting a disastrous trade war. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) warned that “Trump is about to make every American pay even more for coffee,” while The View’s Ana Navarro warned of expensive roses ahead of Valentine’s Day. People would rather accept more expensive coffee and roses than accept masses of foreign criminals. But of course, they didn’t have to accept either. The criminals are gone or going, and the coffee and roses will keep coming.
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The Left’s brief freak-out over Trump’s threatened tariffs underscores why Biden and the Democrats are so weak. Slaves to process and protocol, no Democratic president would ever assert American interests as forcefully and effectively as Trump did on Sunday. Any statement would have been delayed and watered down by national security advisers and State Department officials. The initiative would have been lost. Deportation flights would have been delayed. Petro would have won. Instead, he had a finger jabbed into his chest in such a way as to let the world know the U.S. will not be a pushover any longer.
There is also a personal and aggressive in-your-face element to Trump’s interaction with Petro that should not be underestimated. He had every intention of making an example of Colombia so others would want to avoid such public embarrassment. It was, as the French say, pour encourager les autres, in order to encourage the others. It is not how one should normally treat an ally, but sometimes even our best friends need to know that the boundaries of a relationship need to change. After four years of Biden, that change has come.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
