US will restore on Friday the granting of visas in Colombia

This Friday, January 31, the activities of the Consular Section and the Granting of Visas at the United States Embassy in Colombia after the Diplomatic ImpaSse between the two countries will be resumed.

The Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the United States decided to restore the normal activities of its consular section and the granting of visas as of Friday, January 31.

“We highlight mutual work for the maintenance of diplomatic interlocution channels between two states that are strategic partners in the hemisphere,” Colombian authorities said in written communication.

This occurs after the Impasse diplomatic between Colombia and the US in the early hours of Sunday, when President Gustavo Petro denied the landing of two flights with Colombian deportees.

As a result, President Donald Trump issued a series of sanctions that included the imposition of tariffs and the closure of the consular section of the embassy in Bogotá.

The US government has described this as a sample “that the United States is again respected on the world stage.”

However, Petro said Wednesday that “it is not the first time that we suspend US flights with Colombian returnees” with the “same demand” of a “dignified treatment.”

“At that time Biden did not have the same Trump reaction and the situation of the returnees was improved. Now, we expect the same, we maintain our same position,” Petro said.

The State Department estimates that the average waiting for a tourist visa at the Bogotá Embassy is about 700 days, that is, about two years. It is not clear what will happen to the appointments that were canceled during the closure of the consular section.

Finally, flights with 315 migrants who were deported back to Colombia, They arrived in Bogotá between Tuesday and Wednesday This week in aircraft sent by the Colombian Air Force.