Colombian president Gustavo Petro during a demonstration for Palestine in New York. Photo: X.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro criticized the US decision to revoke his visa, arguing that it violates international law and rules of diplomatic immunity. The measure was taken by the State Department, claiming that Petro urged US soldiers to disobey orders and incite violence during an event in New York, referring to protests against Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
“What the US government is doing to me breaks all the rules of immunity on which the functioning of the United Nations and its General Assembly is based. There is total immunity for presidents attending the Assembly,” the president wrote on his X account a few hours after the news broke.
The Colombian president assured that the prohibition of entry into the US for President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas, preventing him from speaking before the 80th session of the UN General Assembly, and the revocation of his visa demonstrate that the US government no longer complies with international law.
Llegué a Bogotá y me encuentro que ya no tengo Visaa EEUU. Para ir a Ibagué a la gran conventración tolimense por la democracia no necesito Visa.
Separar a EEUU de Colombia es lo que necesitan las mafias.
Lo que hace el gobierno de EEUU conmigo, rompe todas las normas de…
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) September 27, 2025
Petro bases his assertion on the fact that Washington is withdrawing his visa for demanding that the US and Israeli armies stop supporting the genocide in the Gaza Strip, since the United States is the main financier of weapons and intelligence for the Israeli government.
The legal secretary of the Colombian presidency waived his US visa in solidarity with the president. Despite this, President Petro declared that Trump is welcome in Colombia, although recommending that he not surround himself with genocides. He clarified that while US citizens will not be banned from entering, war criminals or those who have committed against humanity will not be allowed into the country.
The measure announced by Washington is presented as punishment for the strong accusations made by the Colombian president during his speech at the 80th Session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly and the massive marches that took place in New York against the Government of Benjamin Netanyahu.
In his speech before the General Assembly, Petro criticized the United States’ anti-drug policy and pointed out that Washington uses the fight against drug trafficking as a pretext to exercise its control over the resources of Latin America and the Caribbean.
President of Colombia Calls for International Army to Stop Gaza Genocide
Meanwhile, during a rally against Israel’s extermination campaigns in Gaza, Petro proposed that the United Nations General Assembly approve a resolution allowing the formation of a “Salvation Army of the World,” whose first and urgent mission would be to “liberate Palestine.”
Petro asserted that if two-thirds of the nations vote in favour of the resolution, the voting countries should take responsibility for setting up this military unit to enforce international justice. The army would “ have to be larger than the US one. That is why, from here, from New York, I ask all US Army soldiers to disobey the order of Trump. I ask you not to point your guns at humanity.”
