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US to Revoke Colombian President Petro’s Visa Over ‘Reckless’ Pro-Palestinian Remarks
The US State Department says it will revoke Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s visa after he urged US soldiers to “disobey Trump’s order” during a pro-Palestinian protest in New York. Petro, who holds Italian citizenship, vowed to keep speaking out against Washington’s policies.
The US State Department announced Friday that it will revoke the visa of Colombia’s leftist President Gustavo Petro, citing his “reckless and incendiary actions” during a pro-Palestinian protest 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 said in a post on X.
“We will revoke Petro’s visa due to his reckless and incendiary actions,” it added.
Petro himself shared video footage of the event on social media, where he addressed a large crowd in Spanish using a megaphone. His translator echoed his call for “nations of the world” 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.
A source from the president’s office confirmed to AFP that Petro was traveling back to Bogotá Friday night. The Colombian leader has previously stated that he holds Italian citizenship and therefore would not require a visa to enter the US.
Petro was in New York for the UN General Assembly, where he strongly criticized the Trump administration and called for an investigation into US strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean.
He claimed the strikes killed more than a dozen unarmed “poor young people,” some of whom he suspects were Colombian. Washington, however, defended the actions as part of an anti-drug operation off the coast of Venezuela, whose government it accuses of running a cartel.
Tensions between Washington and Bogotá have escalated further after the Trump administration decertified Colombia as a drug-fighting ally last week, though it stopped short of imposing sanctions.
Colombia’s Interior Minister Armando Benedetti criticized the visa revocation, writing on X: “Netanyahu’s visa should have been revoked rather than Petro’s. But since the empire protects him, it’s taking it out on the only president who was capable enough to tell him the truth to his face.”
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