Brazil’s government on Saturday expressed outrage after dozens of immigrants deported from the US arrived by plane in handcuffs, calling it a “flagrant disregard” for their rights.
The Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it would demand an explanation from Washington over the “degrading treatment of passengers on the flight.”
The spat comes as Latin America grapples with US President Donald Trump’s return to power bringing a hardline anti-immigration agenda, promising crackdowns on irregular migration and mass deportations.
Photo: AFP
When the plane landed in the northern city of Manaus, Brazilian authorities ordered US officials to “immediately remove the handcuffs,” the Brazilian Ministry of Justice and Public Security said in a statement.
Brazilian Minister of Justice and Public Security Ricardo Lewandowski told Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of “the flagrant disregard for the fundamental rights of Brazilian citizens,” the statement said.
Brazil would request “explanations from the US government about the degrading treatment of passengers” on the Friday night flight, the foreign ministry wrote on X.
The government said 88 Brazilians were aboard the aircraft.
Edgar Da Silva Moura, a 31-year-old computer technician, was on the flight, after seven months in detention in the US.
“On the plane they didn’t give us water, we were tied hands and feet, they wouldn’t even let us go to the bathroom,” he said. “It was very hot, some people fainted.”
Luis Antonio Rodrigues Santos, a 21-year-old freelancer, recounted the “nightmare” of people with “respiratory problems” during “four hours without air-conditioning” due to technical issues on the plane.
“Things have already changed [with Trump]; immigrants are treated as criminals,” he said.
The flight was originally destined for the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte, but encountered a technical issue forcing it to land in Manaus.
A government source said the deportation flight was not directly linked to any immigration orders issued by Trump upon taking office on Monday last week, but rather stemmed from a 2017 bilateral agreement.
Brazilian Minister of Human Rights and Citizenship Macae Evaristo told journalists that “children with autism ... who went through very serious experiences” were also on the flight.
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
RSS