Colombian President Gustavo Petro said Trump’s policies are costing lives. Now, he does not have a U.S. visa.
On Friday, Marco Rubio’s State Department cancelled the visa of the leftist leader after he likened Donald Trump to Hitler in a fiery United Nations speech and later urged U.S. to “disobey” Trump.
Petro accursed Washington in remarks so scathing some members of the U.S. delegation reportedly walked out of the assembly hall.
“When we believed it was only the property of Hitler, Trump does not speak of democracy, he does not speak of the climate crisis, he does not speak of life—he only threatens, kills, and lets tens of thousands be killed,” Petro said Friday.
Later, the Colombian president was filmed addressing a group of pro-Palestinian supporters outside U.N. headquarters, calling for global armed forces to “free Palestine.”
“It [the global force] has to be bigger than that of the United States. That’s why from here, from New York, I ask all the soldiers of the army of the U.S. not to point their rifles at humanity,” Petro said in a video posted to social media, according to CNN.
He added: “Disobey the orders of Trump. Obey the orders of humanity.”
Rubio’s State Department responded by revoking Petro’s visa. It was announced in a post on X, which has since racked up more than 8 million views.
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
“Earlier today, Colombian president [Gustavo Petro] stood on a NYC street and urged U.S. soldiers to disobey orders and incite violence,” the statement reads.
“We will revoke Petro’s visa due to his reckless and incendiary actions.”
Petro, who reportedly left the U.S. before his visa was formally canceled, fired back online, accusing Trump of violating international law.
“As President of Colombia, in the general assembly of the nations that we founded in the UN, I express my opinions freely,” he wrote on X.
“International law is the wisdom of humanity and it protects me. Genocide is a crime against humanity and humanity must respond, judge, and punish. Mr. Trump has violated the founding principles of the UN.”
He added: “Time to go to a more democratic place. I propose Doha as the headquarters of the United Nations.”
Cómo presidente de Colombia, en la asamblea general de las naciones que fundamos en la ONU, expreso mis opiniones libremente. El derecho internacional, es la sabiduría de la humanidad y me protege. El genocidio es un crimen contra la humanidad y la humanidad debe responder,… https://t.co/9fCOj2ydhv
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) September 27, 2025
This is the first time that the U.S. has revoked the visa of a head of state due to comments made during a visit to the UN, according to University of Denver professor Francisco Rodríguez, who authored The Collapse of Venezuela.
“This action undermines the viability of the General Assembly and risks violating the 1947 Headquarters Agreement,” the professor wrote on X.
The clash between the two leaders marks the most dramatic escalation yet in a growing diplomatic feud that analysts warn could jeopardize decades of partnership between the U.S. and Colombia.
Petro has repeatedly denounced three lethal strikes the U.S. has launched in the Caribbean Sea in recent weeks, which have so far killed 17 people.
Trump said the strikes destroyed three different boats allegedly crewed by members of the Tren de Aragua gang smuggling drugs to the U.S. from Colombia’s neighbor, Venezuela.
The first attack, which killed 11 people in international waters, has been described by critics as a serious violation of human rights, possibly amounting to a war crime.
During his own UN address on Tuesday, Trump didn’t hold back.
“To every terrorist thug smuggling poisonous drugs into the United States of America, please be warned that we will blow you out of existence,” Trump said.
“Your countries are going to hell,” he added.
But Petro rejected America’s justification for the strikes during his speech, characterizing those on board the boats as “vulnerable youths fleeing poverty.”
He also questioned why U.S. forces would launch a missile if they could simply stop the boat and arrest the crew, which is usual maritime practice. He argued that what America was doing was akin to “murder.”
“Trump fires missiles at unarmed migrant boats and accuses them of being drug traffickers and terrorists, when they did not have a single weapon to defend themselves,” Petro said, according to the translation of his speech by Colombia’s longest-running English-speaking newspaper, The City Paper.
“The traffickers live in New York, just a few blocks away from here, and in Miami.
The post Rubio Bars Foreign Leader Who Said Trump Is Like Hitler appeared first on The Daily Beast.
