US to revoke Colombian president's visa over comments at pro-Palestinian gathering

The United States said it would revoke Colombian President Gustavo Petro's visa after he took to New York's streets on Friday in a pro-Palestinian demonstration and urged U.S. soldiers to disobey President Donald Trump's orders.

"We will revoke Petro’s visa due to his reckless and incendiary actions," the State Department posted on X.

Petro, addressing a crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters outside the U.N. headquarters in Manhattan, called for a global armed force with the priority to liberate Palestinians, adding, "This force has to be bigger than that of the United States."

"That's why from here, from New York, I ask all the soldiers of the army of the United States not to point their guns at people. Disobey the orders of Trump. Obey the orders of humanity," Petro said in Spanish.

Petro, Colombia's first leftist president and a vocal opponent of Israel's war in Gaza, hit out at Trump in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, saying the U.S. leader was "complicit in genocide" in Gaza and calling for "criminal proceedings" over U.S. missile attacks on suspected drug-running boats in Caribbean waters.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing the assembly on Friday, denounced Western countries for embracing Palestinian statehood, accusing them of sending the message that "murdering Jews pays off."

The United States is Colombia's main trading partner and its greatest ally in the fight against drug trafficking, but U.S.-Colombia relations got off to a bad start shortly after Trump returned to office in January, when Petro refused to accept military flights carrying deportees in Trump's immigration crackdown.

Petro said his country's citizens were being treated like criminals. But he quickly reversed course, agreeing to accept the migrants, after both countries threatened tariffs on each other and after the U.S. canceled visa appointments for Colombians.

Trump this month put Colombia on a list of countries that Washington says have failed to uphold their counter-narcotics agreements, blaming Colombia's political leadership.

Petro came to office in 2022 promising agreements with armed groups but pivoted last year, pledging to tame coca-growing regions with massive social and military intervention. The strategy has brought little success.