Saturday, March 29, 2025
The U.S. State Department announced on Friday its decision to revoke the visa of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, citing his “incendiary actions” during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in New York City.
The move came swiftly after President Petro addressed a street rally. The State Department stated via social media that the action was due to Petro’s “reckless and incendiary actions,” specifically his public urging of U.S. soldiers to “disobey orders and incite violence.”
While speaking through a megaphone at the protest on Friday, President Petro, a leftist leader, made a direct appeal to American troops: “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’s remarks, which were delivered in Spanish and translated for the large crowd, also included a call for global nations to contribute personnel to form an army “larger than that of the United States.”
The Colombian president was in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, where he had already adopted a confrontational stance toward the Trump administration. During his address on Tuesday, Petro had forcefully criticized the U.S. and demanded a criminal investigation into recent American military strikes targeting suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean.
Petro’s condemnation centered on the deaths of more than a dozen alleged “poor young people” in the naval strikes, some of whom he suspected were Colombian. Washington, however, insists these actions are legitimate anti-drug operations targeting a cartel allegedly run by Venezuela’s President.
Petro, whose nation is the world’s largest producer of cocaine, has seen ties with the U.S.—a historical ally—deteriorate since he became the country’s first left-wing president. The Trump administration recently decertified Colombia as a reliable partner in the drug war, though it stopped short of imposing economic penalties.
Following the visa revocation, Colombian media reported that President Petro was already traveling back to Bogotá from New York on Friday evening. Colombia’s Interior Minister, Armando Benedetti, subsequently posted online, arguing that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visa should have been revoked instead of Petro’s, calling the U.S. action a form of retaliation against a leader “who was capable enough to tell him the truth.”
