US Cancels Visa Of Colombian President Amid Pro-Palestinian Protests
According to the State Department, while attending the UNGA in New York, Petro "called on US soldiers to defy [Trump’s] orders and provoke violence."
The United States announced it will revoke Colombian President Gustavo Petro's visa after he "urged US soldiers to disobey orders and incite violence" in New York on Friday, the State Department said.
"We will revoke Petro’s visa due to his reckless and incendiary actions," the State Department stated on X.
Petro, in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, addressed a crowd outside the UN headquarters, saying: "I ask all the soldiers of the army of the United States not to point their guns at people. Disobey the orders of (President Donald) Trump. Obey the orders of humanity!"
Neither his office nor Colombia's foreign ministry immediately responded to requests for comment.
Earlier in the week, during his speech at the UNGA on Tuesday, Petro criticized Trump, accusing the former US leader of being "complicit in genocide" in Gaza and calling for "criminal proceedings" over US missile strikes on suspected drug-running boats in Caribbean waters.
On Friday, Petro’s social media showed he had reposted several clips of himself speaking at a pro-Palestinian protest in New York. He wrote on X: "Free Palestine. If Gaza falls, humanity dies."
A vocal critic of Israel's war in Gaza, Petro has also suspended Colombia’s coal exports to Israel.
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