Bogotá (EFE).- Colombian President Gustavo Petro asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday to send a letter of protest to the United States government regarding the death of a young Colombian man in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Missouri in April.
«A young Colombian man committed suicide in an ICE concentration camp of the US government. He wanted to call his mother, but was not allowed to. He chose suicide,» Petro stated on X, where he ordered the Foreign Affairs Ministry to «deliver a letter of protest.»
According to the president, «The US government should reflect on how its immigration policy is killing Americans and Latin Americans.»
«A heartfelt tribute from all Colombian youth to Brayan Rayo Garzón. Rest in peace,» the Colombian president added.
According to various media outlets, Rayo Garzón died on Apr. 8 after being found unconscious at a detention center in Phelps County, Missouri, where he had been awaiting deportation to Colombia since Jun. 2024.
Family members of other victims and forensic experts have previously questioned ICE for attributing migrant deaths to «suicides,» such as those of Nicaraguan Víctor Manuel Díaz and Cuban Gerardo Lunas Campos at Fort Bliss, a detention center in El Paso, Texas.
The current government’s anti-immigrant policies, along with the push for arrests throughout the country, have led to record detention figures. In January, over 73,000 migrants were detained in the US, marking the highest level since the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) inception in 2001.
Tense relationship
The relationship between Bogotá and Washington has been tense since Jan. 2025, when US President Donald Trump’s second term began, and big differences arose with the Colombian government.
The first major crisis occurred that month when Petro refused to allow US military flights carrying deported Colombian citizens to land, arguing that the conditions in which they were being transported were inhumane. In response, Trump threatened to impose tariffs and economic sanctions on Colombia.
Disagreements continued in the following months, especially regarding their respective approaches to fighting drugs, which led the US administration to withdraw Colombia’s certificate as a collaborating country in the fight against drug trafficking and impose sanctions on Colombian officials, including the president.
Tensions between the two countries decreased after Petro and Trump spoke on the phone in early January, leading to high-level meetings between officials from both governments, and a meeting between the two leaders on Feb. 3 at the White House. EFE
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