By Eniola Amadu
The United States has revoked Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s visa following remarks in which he urged American soldiers to defy orders from President Donald Trump.
The US State Department described Petro’s comments at a pro-Palestinian demonstration in New York as “reckless and incendiary.”
The Colombian leader had been in the US for the United Nations General Assembly and was already en route back to Bogotá when the announcement was made, according to Colombian media reports.
Petro shared a video on social media showing him addressing a large crowd through a megaphone.
Speaking in Spanish, he called for the creation of a “world salvation army” to “liberate Palestine” and appealed directly to US service members: “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!”
He went on to say that young people from Israel and the United States should direct their weapons “not toward humanity, but toward the tyrants and toward the fascists.”
In response, the State Department said Petro’s statements amounted to encouraging soldiers to disobey commands and incite violence. In a post on social media, it confirmed that his visa was revoked “due to his reckless and incendiary actions.”
Colombian Interior Minister Armando Benedetti criticised Washington’s decision, arguing that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visa should have been annulled instead.
“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 wrote on X.
Relations between Petro’s left-wing government—the first of its kind in Colombia’s history—and the Trump administration have become increasingly strained in recent months.
At the UN earlier in the week, Petro called for a criminal investigation into US airstrikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean.
He accused Washington of using violence to exert dominance in Latin America and claimed that some of those killed in the strikes may have been Colombian nationals.
Petro alleged US officials were working with drug gangs, while his administration was trying to persuade farmers to abandon coca cultivation. In an interview with the BBC, he described the strikes as “an act of tyranny.”
The United States maintains that the operations are aimed at disrupting narcotics trafficking networks off the Venezuelan coast.
Washington accuses Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and senior officials of running a cartel.
In a related move, the US also denied visas to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and about 80 Palestinian officials, preventing them from attending the UN General Assembly.
