The United States has announced it will revoke Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s visa following remarks he made urging American soldiers to disobey President Donald Trump.
Petro delivered the comments during a pro-Palestinian rally in New York on Friday, where he called for the creation of a “world salvation army” with the goal of liberating Palestine. Speaking through a megaphone, he urged:
“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!”
He further called on the “sons and daughters of workers and farmers” in both Israel and the US to turn their weapons “not against humanity, but against tyrants and fascists.”
The US State Department condemned the statements as “reckless and incendiary,” accusing Petro of encouraging soldiers to defy orders and incite violence. It confirmed on social media that his visa had been revoked for this reason.
Petro was in New York earlier in the week for the UN General Assembly, where he criticized US airstrikes on boats in the Caribbean suspected of drug trafficking. He argued the operations were not about fighting drugs but about “using violence to dominate Colombia and Latin America.” He claimed some victims of the strikes may have been Colombian and accused Washington of collusion with drug gangs, contrasting it with his government’s efforts to persuade farmers to abandon coca cultivation.
In an interview with the BBC, Petro described the strikes as “an act of tyranny.” Washington, however, maintains the operations are part of its anti-narcotics campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whom it accuses of running a cartel.
Petro had already departed for Bogotá when news of his visa revocation broke, according to Colombian media.
Colombia’s Interior Minister, Armando Benedetti, criticized the move, arguing that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visa should have been annulled instead. “But since the empire protects him,” he said on X, “it is taking it out on the only president brave enough to tell the truth to his face.”
Relations between Petro—Colombia’s first left-wing president—and the Trump administration have grown increasingly strained in recent months.
Meanwhile, in a separate move, the US also denied entry visas to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and about 80 Palestinian officials, barring them from attending the UN General Assembly. This runs counter to long-standing convention allowing world leaders access to the UN headquarters regardless of their relations with Washington.
Source: BBC
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