Following his detention in the United States a few weeks ago, political activist Franklin Humberto Coral—publicly known as Beto Coral—arrived in the Colombian capital this Thursday after being deported by U.S. immigration authorities.
Upon his arrival in the capital, Coral was met at the Colombian Aerospace Force (FAC) Military Air Transport Command (CATAM) airport in Bogotá by Foreign Minister Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio and the Director of Migration Colombia, Gloria Arriero. This event marked the conclusion of a tense episode that had lasted a month since his initial detention.
However, Coral maintains that he entered the U.S. legally in 2015 and had a formal political asylum application pending since 2016; he categorically denies having committed any crimes in the United States.
Furthermore, Coral alleged that his arrest was an act of persecution due to his views on Colombian politics—a stance supported by President Gustavo Petro, who described the incident as political persecution and requested Foreign Ministry intervention to monitor the case.
Initially, it was expected that the president himself would welcome the activist upon his arrival at El Dorado Airport in Bogotá, but this did not happen.
Upon his arrival in the country, Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio was present and stated: “I welcomed Beto Coral tonight on FAC flight 77, alongside 76 deported Colombians, including 11 children. The accounts of the mistreatment they endure in detention centers break my heart. We must work to ensure ‘Never Again’.”
