NP
Washington– The United States has revoked the visa of Colombian President Gustavo Petro. According to the State Department, the move was taken because of Petro’s “incendiary actions” during a pro-Palestinian protest in New York.
Colombian media reported that Petro was already on his way back to Bogota from New York on Friday night.
Earlier, Petro had described US airstrikes ordered by the Trump administration against suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea as an “act of tyranny.”
He also shared a video on social media showing him addressing a large crowd, where he urged nations to form an army larger than that of the United States. In the same address, he called on US soldiers to “disobey Trump’s orders” and instead “follow the orders of humanity.”
The State Department strongly condemned his remarks, stating that Petro had stood on a New York street urging US soldiers to defy orders and incite violence, which led to the decision to revoke his visa.
Following the announcement, Colombia’s Interior Minister Armando Benedetti reacted by saying the visa should have been revoked for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, not Petro.
Petro, the first left-wing president in Colombia’s history, has seen relations with the US grow increasingly strained since taking office.
Earlier, the US had also denied visas to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and 80 Palestinian officials, preventing them from attending the UN General Assembly in New York.
