The United States has announced its decision to revoke the visa of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, following his call for American soldiers to disobey orders from his counterpart, Donald Trump, during a rally in New York.
The State Department labeled Petro’s statements at a pro-Palestinian demonstration on Friday as “irresponsible and inflammatory”.
Petro was in the US for the UN General Assembly, where he previously demanded a criminal investigation into the Trump administration’s airstrikes targeting alleged drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean.
As he was returning to Bogota, US officials disclosed the cancellation of his visa, according to reports from Colombian media.
On Friday, Petro posted a video on social media, addressing a large gathering through a megaphone in Spanish.
He advocated for the creation of a “global salvation army, whose initial mission is to liberate Palestine”.
“Thus, from New York, I urge all members of the United States Army not to aim their weapons at humanity,” he declared. “Disregard Trump’s instructions! Heed the call of humanity!”
Petro further stated: “Similar to the First World War, I wish for the youth, sons and daughters of laborers and farmers, from both Israel and the United States, to direct their weapons not against humanity, but against the oppressors and the fascists.”
The US State Department condemned these remarks, asserting that he had “encouraged US soldiers to defy orders and incite violence”.
The department expressed on social media that the visa revocation was due to his “reckless and incendiary behavior”.
Colombia’s Interior Minister Armando Benedetti commented on X late Friday, suggesting that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visa should have been revoked instead of Petro’s.
“However, since the empire shields him, it punishes the only president capable of confronting him with the truth,” he remarked.
The relationship between Petro, who heads Colombia’s first-ever leftist government, and the Trump administration has strained in recent months.
In his UN speech, the Colombian leader delivered a harsh critique of US strikes on vessels suspected of drug transport, contending that these actions were driven not by a desire to curb the drug trade, but rather to impose “violence to dominate Colombia and Latin America”.
He mentioned that some individuals killed in the strikes may have been Colombian, from the leading cocaine-producing nation, and alleged that US officials were linked to drug cartels while his administration was persuading farmers to refrain from coca cultivation.
Petro characterized the airstrikes as an “act of tyranny” during an interview with the BBC.
Washington maintains that these operations are part of a US anti-drug initiative off the coast of Venezuela, whose president is accused of managing a cartel.
The US also denied visas to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, along with 80 Palestinian officials, preventing their attendance at the UN General Assembly, despite a long-standing convention allowing world leaders to access the headquarters regardless of their ties with the US.
