BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s foreign ministry summoned a senior U.S. diplomat on Monday to discuss the deportation of Brazilian migrants, the ministry said, a day after a major flare up over migrant repatriations to neighboring Colombia.
Gabriel Escobar, the highest-ranking U.S. envoy in Brasilia, met with representatives of Brazil’s foreign ministry on Monday, as the United States ramps up deportations, including on military flights transporting shackled migrants.
On Saturday, Brazil’s government said it would seek explanations from U.S. officials over what it called “degrading treatment” of Brazilians on a deportation flight last Friday.
Brazilian deportees arrived in Brazil in handcuffs, while some also reported mistreatment during the flight, according to local media reports.
Escobar is the top U.S. official at the country’s embassy in Brazil since former Ambassador Elizabeth Frawley left the post earlier this month.
On Sunday, the U.S. and Colombia pulled back from the brink of a trade war after the White House said the South American nation had agreed to accept military aircraft carrying deported migrants.
(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu in Brasilia; Writing by Andre Romani; Editing by David Alire Garcia)
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