The United States is preparing to revoke the visa of Colombian President Gustavo Petro following his provocative call for American soldiers to disregard their orders and incite unrest in New York City streets.
Consider the implications—an international leader, while on American soil, openly advocating dissent against the U.S. administration. It’s as if he stumbled into a geopolitical version of a feedback loop.
Petro, attending the U.N. General Assembly, participated in a pro-Hamas demonstration outside the United Nations headquarters. Through a translator, he addressed the crowd in Spanish, as noted by Al Jazeera.
“I urge all U.S. soldiers to not point their weapons at humanity. Reject Trump’s orders. Listen to the call of humanity,” Petro declared during the rally.
He went on to state, “I genuinely believe that after the U.S. veto at the Security Council, diplomacy has reached its limits. History teaches us that when diplomacy fails, we must seek different means of struggle.”
En Nueva York, El Presidente @PetroGustavo, junto al músico británico, @rogerwaters, acompañaron la manifestación en apoyo a Palestina.
Allí, el mandatario anunció que presentará ante la ONU una resolución que busca la creación de un “Ejército de la salvación del mundo”,… pic.twitter.com/qBzEVEP0xT
— Presidencia Colombia (@infopresidencia) September 26, 2025
The U.S. State Department wasted no time in condemning Petro’s remarks. “Today, President Petro stood on the streets of New York and incited U.S. soldiers to disobey lawful orders and create violence,” their statement on social media proclaimed. “As a result of these reckless actions, we will revoke his visa.”
Earlier today, Colombian president @petrogustavo stood on a NYC street and urged U.S. soldiers to disobey orders and incite violence.
We will revoke Petro’s visa due to his reckless and incendiary actions.
— Department of State (@StateDept) September 27, 2025
According to The Guardian, Colombian news sources confirmed that Petro was already making his way back to Bogotá on Friday evening.
While in New York for the U.N. General Assembly, Petro sharply criticized the Trump administration and called for a formal investigation into recent U.S. military actions against alleged drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean during his speech on Tuesday.
Petro contended that unarmed “poor young people” had lost their lives in these strikes—over a dozen casualties, according to him—while Washington defended the operations as legitimate anti-drug efforts targeting a cartel allegedly run by the Venezuelan president.
In a show of military might, Trump has deployed eight warships and a submarine to the southern Caribbean—an unprecedented build-up in recent years that has induced anxiety in Venezuela about a potential invasion.
Petro, citing the concerns for Colombia, pointed out that some of the deceased from the boat strikes were likely Colombian nationals.
Jim Høft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, among the leading conservative news platforms in America. He received the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016.
You can email Jim Høft here, and read more of Jim Høft’s articles here.