US revokes Colombian president’s visa

The incident occurred during the UN General Assembly in New York. Colombian President Petro Petro, at a pro-Palestinian rally outside UN headquarters, publicly called on US soldiers to “disobey Trump’s orders and obey human conscience.” The US State Department subsequently revoked his visa, citing “reckless and inciting violence.” Using a megaphone, he addressed the crowd, “Don’t point your guns at civilians! Disobey Trump’s orders! Humanity’s orders trump the president!” He also referred to the US military’s fight against fascism in World War II as a “heroic epic,” suggesting that the current situation in Gaza resembled Nazi atrocities. The State Department announced the visa revocation late that night in a stern tweet: “Petro’s visa is being revoked for his reckless and inciting behavior.” Petro had just concluded his UN General Assembly speech, lambasting the failure of US drug control policies and accusing Trump of being an “accomplice to genocide.” Petro had already left the US by then and, as a citizen of Italy, the revocation seemed more like a post-event punishment. Colombian Interior Minister Benedetti quickly retorted: “The only one whose visa should be revoked is Netanyahu! The United Nations has determined that he is ‘unworthy of being a world citizen.'” Petro himself said even more forcefully: “Revoke it if you want, I don’t need a US visa!” He also accused the United States of “using visas as weapons and violating international law.”