The United States withdraws the visa from the Colombian president.
Gustavo Petro has urged US soldiers to "disobey orders and incite violence," according to the Trump administration.
BarcelonaThe US State Department has revoked the visa to the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, arguing that he has urged US soldiers to "disobey orders and incite violence." Petro, one of the main leaders of the Latin American left, participated in a pro-Palestine demonstration in New York on Friday, coinciding with the celebration of the 80th United Nations General Assembly.
In line with what he had previously said from the UN podium, Petro called for the creation of a multinational "salvation army" to support the Palestinian people and, to this end, urged US soldiers to disobey their government's orders. "[This army] must be larger than that of the United States. Therefore, from here, from New York, I ask all soldiers of the United States army to disobey Trump's order. I ask you not to point your rifles at humanity," the Colombian president harangued during the demonstration: humanity!"
The Donald Trump administration used these statements to revoke his visa. "This morning, Colombian President Gustavo Petro addressed US soldiers on a New York street, urging them to disobey orders and incite violence. Due to these reckless and provocative actions, we will revoke his visa," reads a State Department statement published on the X network on Saturday. According to Colombian media, Petro was already en route to Bogotá from New York on Friday night when the announcement was made public.
"Salvation Army"
What Petro has proposed at the United Nations is to activate the mechanism called Uniting for Peace for Palestine, a path that, he explained, would allow for collective action when the Security Council is blocked by vetoes from five permanent member states. But this proposal requires the support of two-thirds of the member states of the General Assembly in order to carry out internationally coordinated military action.
"With the last veto [of the ceasefire in Gaza] that the United States made in the Security Council, diplomacy ended [...] We must move on to another phase of struggle," argued the Colombian president.
During his speech at UN headquarters, Petro was also highly critical of the Trump administration for the Recent attacks on ships, allegedly loaded with drugs, in the Caribbean SeaThe Colombian president asserted that this war on drugs is, in reality, a strategy "to dominate the people of the south." He insisted that the real drug traffickers are "those who keep their enormous fortunes in the world's largest banks" and who "do not live in Bogotá, Caracas, the Caribbean, or Gaza, but in Miami, New York, Paris, Madrid, and Dubai."
