The U.S. State Department announced late Friday that it will revoke the U.S. visa of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, saying the decision followed “reckless and incendiary actions” when Petro addressed a pro-Palestinian demonstration in New York during this week’s U.N. General Assembly. The State Department’s post on the platform X said Petro had “stood on a NYC street and urged U.S. soldiers to disobey orders and incite violence.”
Video and eyewitness accounts show Petro speaking at Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza outside the United Nations, using a megaphone and a translator to address a large crowd. In Spanish, Petro called on “the nations of the world” to contribute soldiers to what he described as an international force to defend Palestinians, and told U.S. soldiers, “Disobey Trump’s order! Obey the order of humanity!” The comments, widely circulated on social media, drew an immediate rebuke from Washington.
Petro returned to Bogotá after the U.N. events and posted that he had “arrived in Bogotá” and that he was unconcerned about losing the U.S. visa, calling himself “a free person in the world.” Colombian officials reacted defensively: Interior Minister Armando Benedetti said Israel’s prime minister — not Petro — should have had his visa revoked, and framed the measure as politically motivated.
The move marks a sharp deterioration in relations between Washington and Bogotá under Petro, Colombia’s first left-leaning president. Tensions between the two governments have risen this year over drug-war cooperation, migration and Petro’s outspoken criticism of U.S. and Israeli policy in Gaza. Earlier this year the U.S. decertified Colombia for certain anti-narcotics benchmarks, and Petro has publicly opposed U.S. military actions in the region. Analysts say the visa revocation is both a response to the New York remarks and the latest episode in a broader diplomatic drift.
A State Department official framed the action as a response to Petro’s public statements at a protest rather than an administrative step targeting official diplomacy; the statement did not say whether the revocation would bar future official travel to the United States or affect Petro’s ability to attend international fora hosted by the U.S. Government. U.S. posts on X are frequently used now for immediate diplomatic messaging; the terse announcement left several procedural questions unanswered.
Petro’s speech in New York came after a forceful address to the U.N. General Assembly in which he accused the U.S. of complicity in what he called crimes in Gaza and urged stronger international action. His participation in the street demonstration, alongside artists and activists, was intended to amplify calls for Palestinian statehood and to pressure governments to act; critics in Washington argued his language crossed a line into incitement.
International reaction has been mixed. Some Latin American leaders and domestic political allies have denounced the visa revocation as disproportionate and an affront to diplomatic norms; others have cautioned that Petro’s rhetoric risks isolating Colombia at a time when cooperation on security and counternarcotics is considered crucial by U.S. officials. Observers also note the timing: tensions over U.S. military deployments in the Caribbean and disputes over deportations and anti-drug cooperation have frayed ties in recent months.
The revocation is a symbolic diplomatic penalty that could complicate bilateral talks, multilateral engagement with the United States, and Petro’s ability to travel to the U.S. for any official events that would normally rely on diplomatic courtesies. Bogotá’s foreign ministry will likely issue a formal response and seek clarifications about the practical consequences of the visa decision; how Washington and Bogotá navigate the fallout could shape ties between the two countries in the months ahead.
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