Trump administration says it will revoke Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s visa
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Trump administration says it will revoke Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s visa
Colombian President Gustavo Petro urged U.S. soldiers to disobey President Donald Trump’s orders. Petro called for a global armed force to liberate Palestinians amid Israel’s war in Gaza. The State Department said it would revoke Petro’s visa due to his “reckless and incendiary actions” Petro: “I don’t need a Visa but an ESTA, because I’m not only a Colombian citizen … I consider myself a free person in the world””I no longer have a visa to travel to the USA. I don’t care,” Petro wrote on X.
“We will revoke Petro’s visa due to his reckless and incendiary actions,” the State Department wrote in a Sept. 26 post on X.
Petro, during a protest outside the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan, called for a global armed force to liberate Palestinians amid Israel’s war in Gaza, saying the force must 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.
After returning to Bogotá, Petro addressed the State Department’s action.
“I no longer have a visa to travel to the USA. I don’t care,” the Colombian leader wrote on X. “I don’t need a Visa but an ESTA, because I’m not only a Colombian citizen but also a European citizen, and in reality, I consider myself a free person in the world.”
Petro, Colombia’s first leftist leader and an outspoken critic of the Israeli military action in Gaza, accused Trump in his remarks outside the UN of being “complicit in genocide” in Gaza. He also called for “criminal proceedings” over U.S. missile attacks on suspected drug-running boats in Caribbean waters.
In a separate X post after the protest, Petro accused Trump of violating the founding principles of the UN. “Time to go to a more democratic place. I propose Doha as the headquarters of the United Nations,” Petro said.
Petro’s remarks came after several Western countries ‒ including Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, France and Portugal ‒ recognized Palestinian statehood over the past week, angering Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Trump administration.
Trump, during his Sept. 23 speech to the UN’s General Assembly, called recognizing the Palestinian state a “reward” to Hamas for their actions.
Contributing: Reuters
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison
Colombia’s Petro defies US visa revocation, stands firm on Palestine
Colombian President Gustavo Petro has defiantly shrugged off the US decision to revoke his visa. Petro, who returned to his country after attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York, said he no longer had a visa to travel to the US. The visa revocation came after Petro publicly urged US soldiers to reject orders from President Donald Trump and instead “obey the orders of humanity” Petro has previously clashed with the Trump administration over migration and drug trafficking issues.
Petro, who returned to his country after attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York, said he no longer had a visa to travel to the US but added, “I don’t care.”
He explained that he did not need a visa because he is not only a Colombian citizen but also a European citizen. Petro added that he considers himself “a free person in the world” and that every person on earth must be free.
The visa revocation came after Petro publicly urged US soldiers to reject orders from President Donald Trump and instead “obey the orders of humanity.”
Petro, who has previously clashed with the Trump administration over migration and drug trafficking issues, repeated his call for an armed force to “free Palestine” while addressing a group of pro-Palestine supporters outside the UN headquarters on Friday.
In a video posted to social media, Petro can be heard saying that the global force “has to be bigger than that of the United States.”
The US State Department said Petro’s visa was being revoked “due to his reckless and incendiary actions.”
In response, Petro called Washington’s decision a violation of international norms, saying it “breaks all the norms of immunity on which the functioning of the United Nations and its General Assembly is based.”
Washington announced on 29 August that it was denying and revoking visas for members of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority “on national security grounds,” accusing them of “undermining the prospects for peace.”
Petro said the fact that they were barred from entry —and that his visa was revoked for asking the US and Israeli forces not to support a genocide— “demonstrates that the US government no longer complies with international law.”
Colombia under Petro has increasingly voiced support for Palestinian rights and condemned Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.