World

US State Department revokes Colombian president’s visa after remarks at New York City protest

Written by ABC Audio ALL RIGHTS RESERVED on September 27, 2025

(NEW YORK) — The U.S. State Department said it was revoking the visa of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who had traveled to New York this week for the United Nations General Assembly.

“Earlier today, [Petro] stood on a NYC street and urged U.S. soldiers to disobey orders and incite violence,” the State Department said Friday in a post on X. “We will revoke Petro’s visa due to his reckless and incendiary actions.”

Petro, who traveled to New York for the U.N. General Assembly, participated in a pro-Palestinian demonstration earlier Friday. In video clips posted to social media, he can be heard appealing to American soldiers — urging them to disobey orders from President Donald Trump.

Based on the video clips, there did not appear to be any uniformed U.S. service members in the audience listening to Petro.

Petro, responding to the revoking of his visa on Saturday, posted a lengthy response to President Donald Trump on X, saying that “international laws grant me immunity to go to the UN and that there should be no reprisals for my free opinion, because I am a free person.”

He also criticized Trump’s advisers and urged the president to “see humanity clearly and what’s happening” in regards to the situation in Gaza and the crackdown on migrants in the U.S.