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"I confess that I like Walt Withman and Paul Simon and Noam Chomsky and Miller. I confess that Sacco and Vanzetti, who have my blood, in US history, are memorable and I follow them. They were assassinated by labor leaders with the electric chair, the fascists who are inside the USA as inside my country."

"I don't like your oil, Trump, it's going to wipe out the human species because of greed. Maybe someday, over a shot of Whisky which I accept, despite my gastritis, we can talk frankly about this, but it is difficult because you consider me an inferior race and I am not, nor any Colombian."

"So if you know someone stubborn, that's me, period. You can with your economic strength and your arrogance try to stage a coup d'état as they did with Allende. But I die in my law, I resisted torture and I resist you. I do not want slavers next to Colombia, we already had many and we freed ourselves. What I want next to Colombia are freedom lovers. If you cannot accompany me, I will go elsewhere. Colombia is the heart of the world and you did not understand it, this is the land of the yellow butterflies, of the beauty of Remedios, but also of the colonels Aurelianos Buendia, of which I am one of them, perhaps the last one."

"You will kill me, but I will survive in my people before yours, in the Americas. We are people of the winds, the mountains, of the Caribbean Sea and of freedom.

"You don't like our freedom, okay. I do not shake hands with white slavers. I shake the hands of the white libertarian heirs of Lincoln and of the black and white peasant boys of the USA, before whose graves I wept and prayed on a battlefield, to which I arrived, after walking the mountains of Italian Tuscany and after saving myself from the covid."

"They are the USA and before them I kneel, before no one else. Lay me down president and the Americas and humanity will answer. Colombia now stops looking north, look at the world, our blood comes from the blood of the Caliphate of Cordoba, the civilization at that time, of the Roman Latins of the Mediterranean, the civilization of that time, who founded the republic, the democracy in Athens; our blood has the resistant blacks turned into slaves by you."

"In Colombia is the first free territory of America, before Washington, of all America, there I take shelter in its African songs. My land is of gold work existing in the time of the Egyptian pharaohs, and of the first artists of the world in Chiribiquete. You will never dominate us. The warrior who rode our lands, shouting freedom and who is called Bolivar, opposes us."

"Our peoples are somewhat fearful, somewhat timid, they are naïve and kind, loving, but they will know how to win the Panama Canal, which you took from us with violence. Two hundred heroes from all of Latin America lie in Bocas del Toro, present-day Panama, formerly Colombia, which you assassinated."

"I raise a flag and as Gaitan said, even if I remain alone, it will continue to be raised with the Latin American dignity that is the dignity of America, which your great-grandfather did not know, and mine did, Mr. President, immigrant in the USA. Your blockade does not scare me; because Colombia besides being the country of beauty, is the heart of the world. I know that you love beauty as I do, do not disrespect it and it will offer you its sweetness."

"COLOMBIA FROM NOW ON IS OPEN TO THE WHOLE WORLD, WITH OPEN ARMS, WE ARE BUILDERS OF FREEDOM, LIFE AND HUMANITY. I am informed that you put a 50% tariff on our fruit of human labor to enter the U.S., I do the same. Let our people plant corn that was discovered in Colombia and feed the world."

The Ukrainian newspaper Strana has published what they allege is the Trump administration's peace plan for Ukraine, currently being circulated amongst European diplomats. The rough outline is apparently as follows (it should be noted that Strana say they are not currently 100% certain of the authenticity but have decided to share it out of public interest):

• Trump and Putin will have a telephone conversation in late January/early February, the results of which will be passed back to Ukraine. If common ground can be found, the next steps can begin.

• Zelensky must revoke the decree forbidding negotiations with Putin.

• Trump, Putin and Zelensky will hold a trilateral meeting in February/early March where they agree the main outlines of a settlement, which will be followed up by special envoys (so Keith Kellogg et. al).

• Trump will not block military aid to Ukraine whilst the talks continue.

• All going well, a ceasefire will be declared along the entire line of contact on April 20th (Easter), and Ukrainian troops will withdraw from Kursk region.

• The International Peace Conference will oversee a formal agreement between Russia and Ukraine at the end of April, which will be mediated by China, the US, various European countries and members of the Global South.

• The end of April will also see the beginning of mass returns of prisoners of war.

• The International Peace Conference will make a formal declaration of an agreement on the war's end by May 9th.

• After May 9th, Ukraine will begin to lift martial law and end mobilisation.

• New presidential elections will be held in Ukraine by the end of August, with parliamentary/local elections to follow by October.

These are the proposed parameters of the peace agreement to be taken to the International Peace Conference:

• Ukraine will formally declare neutrality and renounce their ambition to join NATO, who will for their part approve this at their next summit.

• Ukraine will join the EU by 2030, who will assist in the post-war reconstruction.

• Ukraine will not be required to reduce the size of their army and the US will continue to assist their modernisation.

• Ukraine will abandon diplomatic/military efforts to return the occupied territories, but will not formally recognise their annexation.

• Russia will see some sanctions lifted immediately on the war's conclusion; more will be lifted in 2028 depending on their compliance. All EU restrictions on Russian energy imports will be lifted. However, Russia will also be subject to a (time-limited) levy from Europe to be used for funding Ukraine's reconstruction.

• "Parties advocating for the protection of the Russian language and for peaceful coexistence with Russia" will be allowed to take part in the elections. Laws targeting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and "promotion of the Russian language" will also be lifted.

• The possible European post-war peacekeeping force is still a live issue; Ukraine obviously wants it but Russia remains vehemently opposed, so further negotiations are required.

Trump says he will retaliate with tariffs, travel bans, sanctions, Mexico also refused to authorize a U.S. military deportation aircraft, Trump's immigration crackdown hiking tensions in Latin America, Brazil condemns U.S. handcuffing of migrants on deportation flight.

WASHINGTON/BOGOTA Jan 26 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Sunday he would impose sweeping retaliatory measures on Colombia, including tariffs and sanctions, after the South American country turned away two U.S. military aircraft with migrants being deported as part of the new U.S. administration's immigration crackdown. Trump's swift retaliatory action appeared aimed at making an example of Colombia to dissuade other countries from defying him on deportation flights. It also showed a renewed willingness to use the might of the United States to force other countries to bend to his will.

Trump said the refusal by Colombian President Gustavo Petro to accept the flights jeopardized U.S. national security and he has directed his administration to take retaliatory measures. They include imposing emergency 25% tariffs on all goods coming into the United States, which will go up to 50% in one week; a travel ban and visa revocations on Colombian government officials and its allies; fully imposing emergency treasury, banking and financial sanctions. He said he would also direct enhanced border inspections of Colombian nationals and cargo.

"These measures are just the beginning," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States!" The U.S. president declared illegal immigration a national emergency and imposed a sweeping crackdown since taking office Monday, directing the U.S. military to help with border security, issuing a broad ban on asylum and taking steps to restrict citizenship for children born on U.S. soil.

Colombia's refusal to accept the flights is the second case of a Latin American nation refusing U.S. military deportation flights. Petro condemned the practice, suggesting it treated migrants like criminals. In a post on social media platform X, Petro said Colombia would welcome home deported migrants on civilian planes, saying they should be treated with dignity and respect.

"The U.S. cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals," Petro wrote, noting that there were 15,660 Americans without proper immigration status in Colombia. Mexico also refused a request last week to let a U.S. military aircraft land with migrants.

Trump did not take similar action against Mexico, its largest trading partner, but has said he was thinking about imposing 25% duties on imports from Canada and Mexico on Feb. 1 over illegal immigrants and fentanyl crossing into the U.S. The United States is Colombia's largest trade and investment partner, the State Department says, and Colombia is also the U.S.’s third-largest trade partner in Latin America.

"Petro's finding out that tweets have consequences. He's not faced a U.S. counterpart that looks at Colombia through a strategic lens, as a key ally, but as a country to make an example of," said Sergio Guzman, director of consultancy Colombia Risk Analysis, who added that financial sanctions could be potentially economically crippling.

GROWING DISCONTENT

Petro's comments add to the growing chorus of discontent in Latin America as Trump's week-old administration starts mobilizing for mass deportations. Brazil's foreign ministry late on Saturday condemned "degrading treatment" of Brazilians after migrants were handcuffed on a commercial deportation flight. Upon arrival, some of the passengers also reported mistreatment during the flight, according to local news reports.

The plane, which was carrying 88 Brazilian passengers, 16 U.S. security agents, and eight crew members, had been originally scheduled to arrive in Belo Horizonte in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais. However, at an unscheduled stop due to technical problems in Manaus, capital of Amazonas, Brazilian officials ordered the removal of the handcuffs, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva designated a Brazilian Air Force (FAB) flight to complete their journey, the government said in a statement Saturday.

The commercial charter flight was the second this year from the U.S. carrying undocumented migrants deported back to Brazil and the first since Trump's inauguration, according to Brazil's federal police. Officials from the U.S. State Department, Pentagon, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

The use of U.S. military aircraft to carry out deportation flights is part of the Pentagon's response to Trump's national emergency declaration on immigration on Monday. In the past, U.S. military aircraft have been used to relocate individuals from one country to another, like during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. This has been the first time in recent memory that U.S. military aircraft were used to fly migrants out of the country, one U.S. official said. U.S. military aircraft carried out two similar flights, each with about 80 migrants, to Guatemala on Friday.

The following statement by UN Secretary-General António Guterres was issued today:

I strongly condemn the arbitrary detention by the Houthi de facto authorities on 23 January of seven additional United Nations personnel in areas under their control.

I demand the immediate and unconditional release of those detained on Thursday, as well as the personnel from the United Nations, international and national non-governmental organizations, civil society and diplomatic missions arbitrarily detained since June 2024 and those held since 2021 and 2023. Their continued arbitrary detention is unacceptable.

The personnel of the UN and its partners must not be targeted, arrested or detained while carrying out their duties for the UN for the benefit of the people they serve. The safety and security of UN personnel and property must be guaranteed.

The continued targeting of UN personnel and its partners negatively impacts our ability to assist millions of people in need in Yemen. The Houthis must deliver on their previous commitments and act in the best interests of the Yemeni people and the overall efforts to achieve peace in Yemen.

The United Nations will continue to work through all possible channels to secure the safe and immediate release of those arbitrarily detained. I welcome the collective support of international partners, non-governmental organizations and all those working to support the people of Yemen in these efforts.

The UN has suspended all official movements by its teams into and out of Houthi-held areas of Yemen, after more UN staffers were detained on Thursday.

The de facto rulers of much of the country, including the capital Sana’a, released the crew of a merchant ship who had been held for more than a year, earlier this week.

The move raised hopes that more than 60 staff from the UN, international organizations and diplomatic missions already being held by the Houthis over the past year, might be released.

Friday’s safety measure announced by Julien Harneis, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, comes as the organization faces mounting security challenges in its operations in the region.

The Houthis and the internationally-recognized Government have been fighting for control of the country in what has become a wider regional proxy war, for over a decade.

Security measure

“Yesterday, the de facto authorities in Sana’a detained additional UN personnel working in areas under their control,” Mr. Harneis said.

“To ensure the security and safety of all its staff, the United Nations has suspended all official movements into and within areas under the de facto authorities' control…this measure will remain in place until further notice.”

Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq elaborated on the response later on Friday, highlighting the UN's ongoing efforts: “Our officials in Yemen are actively engaging with senior representatives of the de facto authorities, demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all UN personnel and partners.”

The detentions mark a troubling escalation for humanitarian operations in Yemen, where access and security remain critical concerns.

The UN continues to emphasise the importance of upholding the safety and neutrality of its personnel to ensure lifesaving aid reaches those in need.