The US announced it would take away Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s visa after he told soldiers to ignore President Donald Trump’s instructions during a pro-Palestine protest in New York on Friday.
The Colombian president made the statements while in the city for the UN General Assembly High-level week, which ends on Saturday.
The US Department of State said on X that President Petro “stood on a street in New York City and told US soldiers to disobey orders and start violence.” We will take away Petro’s visa because of the dangerous and reckless things he did.
Petro, speaking in Spanish to a crowd of protesters supporting Palestinians during Israel’s nearly two-year attack on Gaza, advocated for the creation of a global armed force “bigger than that of the United States,” with the main goal of “liberating Palestinians.”
“That’s why I implore all the soldiers in the U.S. Army not to point their guns at citizens from here in New York. Don’t do what Trump says. “Follow the orders of humanity,” Petro urged at the demonstration outside the UN offices in Manhattan.
The Colombian president was already on his way to Bogota, the capital of his country, on Friday night when the State Department said his visa had been canceled.
Earlier, Petro posted a video on his X profile of him talking to demonstrators with a megaphone. In it, he asked for people to keep fighting against what he called a genocide happening in Gaza.
The Colombian president has spoken out against how Israel has been fighting in Gaza for almost two years, during which time at least 65,659 Palestinians have died, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.
Petro attacked the US leader on Tuesday during his speech to the UN General Assembly, calling him “complicit in genocide.”
Armando Benedetti, the country’s Interior Minister, criticized Washington for taking away Petro’s visa. In a post on X, he said the move was politically motivated and called the Colombian president one of the few who “dared to denounce the genocide against Palestine at the UN.”
Benedetti also said that the US was defending Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and that his visa should be taken away.
“But they keep Netanyahu safe. Benedetti added, “Petro dared to tell the truth to the face of the United States and the world.”
Since Trump took office again on January 20, Petro and his US counterpart have disagreed on a number of issues. Earlier this year, Petro said that Trump was treating Colombians like criminals since the new US government was trying to stop illegal immigration.
He also turned down Colombian citizens who were kicked out of the country by Trump’s immigration raids, but he has subsequently changed his mind and agreed to let the migrants in.
He recently spoke out against Trump’s attacks in the Pacific against what the White House calls “drug boats.” He called for “criminal proceedings” over the attacks, which he thinks may have murdered Colombians.
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