Desk Report:
Colombian President Gustavo Petro has strongly criticized Israel, the country that carried out the genocide in Gaza, in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Not only that, but he also participated in a pro-Palestinian protest in New York later. And immediately after these incidents, the US State Department announced that Petro’s visa will be canceled.
According to the British media outlet BBC, the US State Department announced on Friday local time that Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s visa will be canceled. The Foreign Office said that the decision was made due to Petro’s “provocative actions” at a pro-Palestinian protest in New York.
According to Colombian media reports, Petro left New York for Bogota on Friday night. This was reported by the news agency AFP. Earlier, in an interview with the BBC, Petro described the airstrike on a US drug-trafficking boat in the Caribbean Sea as an “act of tyranny”.
On Friday, Petro shared a video of himself on social media. In it, he is seen speaking to the crowd through a microphone in Spanish. A translator translated his speech into English. He called on countries around the world to build a “force greater than the US military.”
“So from here, from New York, I say to the US military, do not point your weapons at humanity. Do not obey Trump’s orders. Obey the orders of humanity,” Petro said.
The US State Department strongly criticized his statement, writing in a post on X, “Today, Colombian President Gustavo Petro stood on the streets of New York and told US soldiers to disobey orders and incited violence. We will revoke his visa for his reckless and provocative actions.”
Meanwhile, Colombian Interior Minister Armando Benedetti wrote on X on Friday night, “The visa was supposed to be revoked by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But the Empire is protecting him. “So they are punishing the only president who dared to tell the truth in front of his eyes.”
Colombia’s relations with the Trump administration have been strained since Petro took office as the country’s first leftist president. But it’s not just Petro who has been denied visas to travel to New York to attend the UN General Assembly this week, as well as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and 80 other Palestinian officials.
