The diplomatic rift between Washington and Bogotá
deepened Friday after the United States announced it would revoke Colombian
President Gustavo Petro’s US visa, accusing him of making “reckless and
incendiary” remarks in New York.
According to the State Department, Petro used a street
rally in New York City to urge US soldiers to disobey orders and resist
former President Donald Trump’s directives, a statement Washington
described as incitement to violence.
Petro’s Controversial Remarks in New York
In a viral video shared on his official social media
account, Petro is seen addressing a large crowd in Spanish through a megaphone,
calling on the “nations of the world” to form an army “larger than that of the
United States.”
From the stage, he declared:
“I ask all soldiers in the United States Army not to
point their rifles at humanity. Disobey Trump’s order! Obey the order of
humanity!”
Petro’s office later confirmed he returned to Bogotá
on Friday night. The Colombian leader also noted that his Italian
citizenship exempts him from requiring a US visa, despite Washington’s
decision.
Tensions at the UN General Assembly
Petro was in New York for the UN General Assembly,
where he delivered a hard-hitting speech accusing the Trump administration of
committing human rights abuses. He called for an international criminal probe
into recent US military strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the
Caribbean, which he said killed more than a dozen “poor young people,” some
possibly Colombian.
The US has defended the operations as part of an
anti-drug campaign targeting Venezuela, whose president Washington accuses of
running a cartel. Trump has since dispatched eight warships and a submarine
to the Caribbean, sparking fears of a potential military escalation in the
region.
Strained Colombia–US Relations
Once close allies, relations between Washington and
Bogotá have deteriorated sharply under Petro, Colombia’s first leftist
president. Just last week, the Trump administration decertified Colombia as
a partner in the war on drugs, although it stopped short of imposing
sanctions.
Colombia’s Interior Minister Armando Benedetti took to
X to defend Petro, suggesting that if any visa should have been revoked, it was
that of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“But since the empire protects him,” Benedetti wrote, “it’s taking it out on
the only president who was bold enough to tell him the truth.”
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