WASHINGTON: The United States Department of State has said it will revoke the visa of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, citing his “reckless and incendiary actions” in relation to a speech he gave to protesters outside the United Nations headquarters in New York City on Friday.
“Earlier today, Colombian president [Gustavo Petro] stood on a NYC [New York City] street and urged U.S. soldiers to disobey orders and incite violence,” the department said in a post on X.
Earlier today, Colombian president @petrogustavo stood on a NYC street and urged U.S. soldiers to disobey orders and incite violence.
We will revoke Petro’s visa due to his reckless and incendiary actions.
— Department of State (@StateDept) September 27, 2025
The post did not provide specific details on Petro’s alleged offence, but footage circulated on social media showed the Colombian leader joining thousands of pro-Palestine protesters outside the UN building in Midtown Manhattan, according to Al Jazeera.
On his social media account, Petro shared a video of himself speaking Spanish to a large crowd through a megaphone on Friday, with his translator then relaying his comments calling on “nations of the world” to contribute soldiers for an army “larger than that of the United States.”
“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!” Petro said.
AFP reported, quoting a source from the president’s office, that Petro was traveling to Bogota on Friday night.
Italian citizenship
Petro has said he has Italian citizenship and would not need a visa to enter the United States.
Petro was in New York for the UN General Assembly, where he rebuked the Trump administration fiercely and called for a criminal inquiry into recent US strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean in his Tuesday address.
Petro said unarmed “poor young people” died in the strikes — more than a dozen in total — but Washington contends the actions are part of a US anti-drug operation off the coast of Venezuela, whose president Washington accuses of running a cartel.
Trump has dispatched eight warships and a submarine to the southern Caribbean, and the biggest US deployment in years has raised fears in Venezuela of an invasion.
Colombia decertified
Last week, the Trump administration decertified Colombia as an ally in the fight against drugs, but stopped short of imposing economic sanctions.
The countries are historical allies, but ties have soured under Petro — Colombia’s first-ever leftist leader.
The South American country’s Interior Minister Armando Benedetti wrote on X Friday night that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visa should have been revoked rather than Petro’s.
“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.”
