The United States announced that it would cancel the visa of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, citing his “incendiary actions” during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in New York.
“Earlier today, Colombian president @petrogustavo stood on a NYC street and urged US soldiers to disobey orders and incite violence,” the State Department posted on X.
“We will revoke Petro’s visa due to his reckless and incendiary actions,” the statement added.
Petro himself shared a video of the rally on his social media account, speaking in Spanish to a large crowd with a translator repeating his words in English. He called on “nations of the world” to send troops to form an army “larger than that of the United States.”
“That is why, from here in New York, I ask all soldiers in the United States Army not to point their rifles at humanity. Disobey Trump’s order! Obey the order of humanity!” Petro declared through a megaphone.
Officials from his office confirmed to AFP that he was returning to Bogota on Friday night. Petro also remarked that his Italian citizenship allowed him entry into the US without requiring a visa.
The Colombian leader had been in New York for the UN General Assembly, where earlier in the week he strongly criticized the Trump administration and urged an international probe into American military operations in the Caribbean. According to him, recent US strikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats had killed more than a dozen “poor young people” who were unarmed. Washington, however, maintains that these actions were part of an anti-drug operation targeting networks linked to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whom it accuses of running a cartel.
The operations were accompanied by the deployment of eight US warships and a submarine in the southern Caribbean, one of the largest military mobilizations in the region in years. Venezuela has expressed concern that such a buildup raises the risk of invasion. Petro has said that he suspects some of the victims of the strikes were Colombian nationals.
Relations between the two nations, once considered strong allies in the fight against narcotics, have deteriorated since Petro took office as Colombia’s first leftist president. Only last week, the Trump administration decertified Colombia as a partner in anti-drug efforts but stopped short of imposing sanctions.
The controversy also sparked reaction in Colombia, where Interior Minister Armando Benedetti wrote on X that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should have had his visa revoked instead of Petro. “But since the empire protects him, it’s taking it out on the only president who was capable enough to tell him the truth to his face,” Benedetti said.
