The United States plans to cancel Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s visa because he allegedly encouraged U.S. soldiers to ignore commands and promote unrest while in New York on Friday, according to the State Department.
During his visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly, Petro addressed a crowd outside the U.N. building saying, “I ask all members of the U.S. military not to aim their weapons at civilians. Disobey Trump’s directives. Follow the commands of humanity instead!”
The State Department revealed on platform X, Friday evening, that Petro’s visa would be annulled, even though he had already departed the U.S. for Bogota after the demonstration, as reported by the BBC.
“Earlier today, Colombian president @petrogustavo made a public plea in NYC, urging American soldiers to defy orders and provoke violence. Consequently, we will revoke Petro’s visa due to his careless and provocative actions,” the statement read.
Petro’s social media feed on Friday included several reposted videos of himself addressing a group of pro-Palestinian supporters along with former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters in New York.
His office and Colombia’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In his address to the international assembly on Tuesday, Petro also criticized Trump, denouncing three recent assaults that the White House has justified as anti-drug trafficking operations.
He accused the former president of criminalizing poverty and migration.
The United States will revoke Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s (pictured center) visa because he ‘urged U.S. soldiers to disobey orders and incite violence’ in New York on Friday, the State Department said. Pictured: Petro (center) with former Pink Floyd guitarist Roger Waters (right)
In his speech to the global gathering on Tuesday, Petro also hit out at Trump , condemning three attacks this month
Petro said: ‘Criminal proceedings must be opened against those officials, who are from the U.S., even if it includes the highest-ranking official who gave the order: President Trump.’
He added that passengers killed in the strikes were not members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang, as claimed by the Trump administration after the first attack.
Petro said the passengers ‘were simply poor young people from Latin America who had no other option.’
Later in an interview with the BBC, he called the strikes an ‘act of tyranny’ and questioned the US’ methods.
‘Why launch a missile if you could simply stop the boat and arrest the crew,’ he asked. That’s what one would call murder.’
He added: ‘We have a long history of collaborating with American agencies and other agencies of carrying out maritime seizures of cocaine,” he said. “No one has ever died before. There is no need to kill anyone.’
Petro also claimed the United States was responsible for ‘genocide’ in Gaza.
‘Free Palestine. If Gaza falls, humanity dies,’ Petro said in a post on X.
In his speech to the global gathering on Tuesday, Petro also hit out at Trump , condemning three attacks this month, which the White House has defended as operations against drug traffickers
The Colombian leader, a vocal opponent of Israel’s war in Gaza, has suspended exports of coal to Israel.
Petro’s remarks at the UN came just after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced his government is preparing constitutional decrees to defend the country in the event of an ‘attack’ from US forces.
Few details of the strikes have been made public. The first, on September 2, killed 11 people according to Washington.
Officials said that the vessel and another targeted on September 16 had departed from Venezuela.
Three people died in the second strike, while a third boat was hit on Friday, leaving another three dead.
The Trump administration has defended the escalation as vital to combat drug smuggling into the US but has not explained how the boats’ cargo was assessed or how passengers were linked to criminal groups.
National security officials later told Congress the first vessel was fired on after it changed course and appeared to head back to shore.
‘They said that the missiles in the Caribbean were used to stop drug trafficking. That is a lie stated here in this very rostrum,’ Petro declared, in what appeared to be a direct response to Trump’s earlier speech.
In his speech to the global gathering on Tuesday, Petro also hit out at Trump , condemning three attacks this month, which the White House has defended as operations against drug traffickers
Musician Roger Waters, addresses pro-Palestinian demonstrators alongside Colombian President Gustavo Petro outside UN headquarters
‘Was it really necessary to bomb unarmed, poor young people in the Caribbean?’
Maduro has accused Washington of using drug allegations as cover for a military operation designed to topple his government.
Meanwhile, members of the Democratic Party have questioned the Trump administration over the legality of the strikes, which have been described as extrajudicial executions by the UN.
In the interview, Petro claimed that the US leader was humiliating his people and insisted that countries like his will not ‘bow down to the king.’
Trump and Petro have traded barbs in recent months. In a presidential memorandum, where Washington decertified Colombia for what it says was a failure to meet its anti-drug commitments, Trump said: ‘The failure of Colombia to meet its drug control obligations over the past year rests solely with its political leadership.’
Petro hit out at the US decision saying: ‘This is a deep insult to a society that has spilled the most blood so that the United States and Europe consume less cocaine, and obviously an insult to my own life
The strained relationship between the two leaders has been seen as a threat to the prospect of their countries remaining allies.
Colombia has received billions of dollars in aid from the US since the Clinton presidency.
After his return to the White House earlier this year, Trump toughened his stance on illegal migration from Latin America and said he would clamp down on drugs coming to the US from the region.
He also designated several drug-trafficking syndicates as terrorist organizations.
In recent weeks, Washington has strengthened its presence in the southern Caribbean, deploying additional warships to the region alongside thousands of Marines and sailors.
Petro, Colombia’s first left-wing president, restored diplomatic ties with Venezuela after taking office in 2022.
