Visa appointments at the U.S. Embassy in Colombia were canceled Monday following a dispute between President Donald Trump and his Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro over deportation flights from the U.S. that nearly turned into a costly trade war between the two countries.
Dozens of Colombians arrived at the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá and were handed letters by local staff that said their appointments had been canceled “due to the Colombian government’s refusal to accept repatriation flights of Colombian nationals” over the weekend.
Later on Monday, Colombia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said the government was sending a Colombian Air Force plane to San Diego to pick up a group of Colombians who were on a deportation flight that was not allowed to land on Sunday morning.
The victory claimed in Washington turned Colombia into an example of what other nations could face if they stand in the way of Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown. It also put on display a clash with a leftist leader of a country that had long been a U.S. partner against drug trafficking.
“This was about reminding Colombia that there is a price to pay if you go against your agreements, things that you promise,” she said in an interview on Fox News’ “The Story.” “Ultimately, what one would expect to happen did happen. They said ‘Oh, our bad,’ and they reversed everything.”
Colombians, like most non-U.S. citizens, require a visa to travel to the United States for tourism, business or other purposes.
But in Colombia, it can take up to two years to get a visa appointment at the U.S. embassy in Bogotá, which has also been handling visa requests from neighboring Venezuela for several years. Those who had their Monday appointments canceled will likely have to wait several months for a new appointment. And many said they were frustrated with the unexpected cancellations.
“There is a lot of uncertainty now over what will happen next,” said Mauricio Manrique, who had his Monday morning appointment canceled. He had traveled from Popayan, about 600 kilometers (about 370 miles) south of Bogotá, for his appointment.
Tensions between Colombia and the U.S. escalated Sunday after Petro wrote an early morning message on X saying he would not allow two U.S. Air Force planes carrying Colombian deportees to land in the country.
