Resistance is necessary to Abide in Love.
A portrait of Brayan Garzón-Rayo, who died while in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Phelps County, sits in front of St. Cecilia Catholic Church during a funeral mass last June in south St. Louis.
Photo by Lylee Gibbs/ St. Louis Public Radio
Colombian president blasts U.S. government after St. Louis man died in ICE custody last year
St. Louis Public Radio | By Brian Munoz
Published May. 28, 2026 at 5:00 a.m. CDT
Colombian President Gustavo Petro called for a formal diplomatic protest of the United States government in response to Brayan Garzón-Rayo’s death in a Rolla jail last year.
“A young Colombian man committed suicide in an ICE detention camp run by the U.S. government,” Petro wrote in Spanish in a social media post on Wednesday. “He wanted to call his mother, but was not permitted to do so. He chose to take his own life.”
Petro also called on Colombia’s foreign ministry to denounce President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, alleging they are “killing both Americans and Latin Americans.”
The politically embroiled Petro is in his final days as the Latin American country’s leader, as he is constitutionally barred from running for another consecutive term, but appears to have spoken up after renewed reporting around Garzón-Rayo’s case.[…]