The United States introduced it will cancel the visa of Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro on Friday, after he publicly called on its soldiers to disobey President Donald Trump, additional straining relations between Washington and Bogota.
Petro, who has beforehand clashed with the Trump administration on migration and drug trafficking points, repeated his name for an armed drive to “free Palestine” whereas addressing a gaggle of pro-Palestine supporters outdoors the United Nations headquarters on Friday.
“It (the global force) has to be bigger than that of the United States. That’s why from here, from New York, I ask all the soldiers of the army of the US not to point their rifles at humanity,” Petro is heard saying in a video posted to social media.
“Disobey the orders of Trump. Obey the orders of humanity,” he added.
Afterwards, the US State Department mentioned in a publish on X: “Earlier as we speak, Colombian president (Gustavo Petro) stood on a NYC avenue and urged U.S. soldiers to disobey orders and incite violence.
“We will revoke Petro’s visa due to his reckless and incendiary actions.”
In response, Petro mentioned the United States’ resolution “breaks all the norms of immunity on which the functioning of the United Nations and its General Assembly is based.”
“The fact that the Palestinian Authority was not allowed entry and that my visa was revoked for asking the US and Israeli armies not to support a genocide, which is a crime against all humanity, demonstrates that the US government no longer complies with international law,” he posted on X.
Petro had been in New York to communicate on the United Nations General Assembly, the place he additionally took purpose immediately at Trump, saying he was “complicit in genocide” in Gaza, the place US ally Israel has not too long ago escalated an assault on Gaza City.
Last week an unbiased United Nations inquiry concluded for the first time that Israel has dedicated genocide in opposition to Palestinians in Gaza, an accusation Israel’s authorities has strongly denied.
NCS has reached out to the US State Department for extra info.
Colombia’s Caracol Radio reported that Petro had already boarded a flight to depart the US when the State Department introduced it will revoke his visa.
During his tackle on the UN, Petro additionally called for “criminal proceedings” over the lethal US strikes on suspected drug traffickers in worldwide waters round South America.
Colombia’s president has had a rocky relationship with the White House this 12 months. Just over per week into Trump’s second time period, Petro blocked the touchdown of two US navy flights of deported migrants, accusing the US of treating Colombian migrants like criminals. Colombia later agreed to settle for the deportees and deployed its personal planes to help of their return.
The Andean nation had beforehand been Washington’s most dependable ally in South America on nationwide safety and protection.