The US State Department said it would cancel the visa of Colombian President Gustavo Petro after he publicly called on the country’s soldiers to disobey President Donald Trump.
Petro spoke on Friday while addressing a group of pro-Palestine supporters outside the United Nations headquarters in New York.
Speaking through a megaphone in Spanish, the Colombian president called for the formation of a “world salvation army, whose first task is to liberate Palestine”.
“That is why, from here in New York, I ask all soldiers in the United States Army not to point their rifles at humanity,” he said.
“Disobey Trump’s order! Obey the order of humanity!”
“As happened in the First World War, I want the young people, sons and daughters of workers and farmers, of both Israel and the United States, to point their rifles not toward humanity, but toward the tyrants and toward the fascists.”
The US state department called Petro’s comments “reckless and incendiary” and said his visa would be revoked.
Petro was in New York to attend the 80th UN General Assembly.
In his Tuesday address to world leaders at the gathering, the Colombian president criticised the White House and called for an end to Israel’s war in Gaza.
“Washington and NATO are killing democracy. And they are spreading totalitarianism at the global level,” he said.
On Saturday, Petro confirmed that his visa was revoked and that he had arrived in Bogotá.
Hours later, Augusto Ocampo, his legal secretary, announced a voluntary waiver of his US visa in solidarity.
Meanwhile, the US also denied visas for Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, and 80 Palestinian officials, blocking them from attending UNGA.
Armando Benedetti, Colombia’s interior minister, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visa should have been revoked instead.
