(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Colombian President Gustavo Petro, a self-described Marxist, is banned from the U.S. after the Trump administration revoked his visa.
The U.S. State Department announced on X that Petro’s visa was revoked after he urged U.S. troops to “disobey” President Donald Trump’s orders “in favor of humanity,” an apparent reference to the war in Gaza.
The department blasted Petro’s remarks as “reckless” and “incendiary” in the post announcing the revocation. Petro had been in the U.S. for the U.N. General Assembly earlier in the week.
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
In response, Petro played the victim, claiming the U.S. action may have violated the “immunity norms” of the U.N. General Assembly, which shield foreign heads of state from consequences for comments made during official sessions.
Petro made his controversial remarks in Midtown Manhattan, miles away from the U.N. headquarters.
“What the U.S. government is doing to me breaks all the norms of immunity on which the functioning of the United Nations and its General Assembly is based,” he said. “There is total immunity for presidents attending the Assembly, and the U.S. government cannot condition the opinion of the U.S.”
The Colombian president even called for the U.N. headquarters to be relocated out of New York. He later brushed off the punishment, saying he did not care.
“I don’t need a visa,” he bragged, citing his Italian citizenship obtained through his grandparents.
“Humanity must be free throughout the world. We have the human right to live on this planet. I am free, and every human being must be free on Earth,” he added in Spanish.
Petro was elected Colombian president in 2022. He was a member of the 19th of April Movement, a guerrilla terrorist group active in the 1970s and 1980s.
