The United States State Department has announced the cancellation of Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s visa after he urged American soldiers to disobey President Donald Trump.
Petro made the remarks on Friday while addressing pro-Palestine supporters outside the United Nations headquarters in New York. Speaking in Spanish through a megaphone, he called for the creation of a “world salvation army” whose first mission would be the liberation of Palestine.
“From here in New York, I ask all soldiers in the United States Army not to point their rifles at humanity,” Petro declared. “Disobey Trump’s order! Obey the order of humanity!”
He went on to urge young people in Israel and the US—“sons and daughters of workers and farmers”—to turn their weapons not against humanity but against “tyrants and fascists.”
The US State Department described Petro’s comments as “reckless and incendiary,” confirming that his visa would be revoked.
Petro was in New York for the 80th UN General Assembly, where on Tuesday he criticized Washington and NATO, accusing them of “killing democracy” and “spreading totalitarianism at the global level.” He also renewed his call for an end to Israel’s war in Gaza.
On Saturday, Petro confirmed that his visa had been revoked and that he had returned to Bogotá. His legal secretary, Augusto Ocampo, later announced he was voluntarily waiving his own US visa in solidarity.
In a related development, Washington also denied visas to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and 80 Palestinian officials, preventing them from attending the UN gathering.
Colombia’s Interior Minister Armando Benedetti criticized the move, saying that instead of Petro, the US should have revoked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visa.
