{"id":457059,"date":"2025-09-28T04:47:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T04:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/457059\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T04:47:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T04:47:12","slug":"colombian-leader-gustavo-petro-accuses-us-of-violating-international-law-after-visa-revoked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/457059\/","title":{"rendered":"Colombian leader Gustavo Petro accuses US of violating international law after visa revoked"},"content":{"rendered":"

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has accused the US of violating international law after it revoked his visa over his criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza.<\/p>\n

The US Department of State said on Friday<\/a> it would take the measure after Mr Petro took to the streets of New York to join a pro-Palestinian demonstration and urged US soldiers to disobey the orders of President Donald Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I no longer have a visa to travel to the United States,” the Colombian president wrote in a post on X<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I don’t care. I don’t need a visa \u2026 because I’m not only a Colombian citizen but a European citizen, and I truly consider myself a free person in the world.<\/p>\n

“Revoking it for denouncing genocide shows the US no longer respects international law.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In another post<\/a>, he noted that international law grants him immunity to attend the UN, and “there should be no reprisals for my free opinion”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Trump, distance yourself from Hitler; there is still time.” \u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The US Department of State accuses Gustavo Petro of inciting violence in comments he made at a protest. (Reuters: Bing Guan)<\/p>\n

Israel has repeatedly denied genocide charges over its actions in Gaza and says it is acting in self-defence.<\/p>\n

It calls its actions self-defence after the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas that killed 1,200 people and in which over 250 were taken hostage.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu gives UN speech as Trump flags deal<\/a><\/p>\n

Dozens of diplomats stage a walkout at the UN ahead of the Israeli prime minister’s speech, as US President Donald Trump says: “I think we have maybe a deal on Gaza.”<\/p>\n

Addressing a crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters outside the UN headquarters in Manhattan, Mr Petro called for a global armed force with the priority to liberate Palestinians, adding, “this force has to be bigger than that of the United States”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Colombia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that using visa revocation as a diplomatic weapon goes against the spirit of the UN, which protects freedom of expression and guarantees the independence of member states at UN events.<\/p>\n

“The UN should find a completely neutral host country \u2026 that would allow the organisation itself to issue authorisation to enter the territory of that new host state,” the ministry said.<\/p>\n

Mr Petro is not the first Colombian president to have his US visa revoked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 1996, then-president Ernesto Samper’s visa was cancelled over a political scandal involving allegations that the Cali drug cartel had funded his presidential campaign.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The US cancelled Ernesto Samper’s visa in 1996. (Reuters)<\/p>\n

Relations between Bogota and Washington have frayed since Mr Trump returned to office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Mr Petro blocked deportation flights from the US, prompting threats of tariffs and sanctions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The two sides later reached a deal.<\/p>\n

In July, both countries recalled their ambassadors after Mr Petro accused US officials of plotting a coup \u2014 a claim Washington called baseless.<\/p>\n

Mr Petro cut diplomatic ties with Israel in 2024 and banned Colombian coal exports to the country.<\/p>\n

Reuters<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Colombian President Gustavo Petro has accused the US of violating international law after it revoked his visa over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[25911,153235,32,51970,62884,837,4447,1814,14248,1757,7498,49,978,659,1236],"class_list":{"0":"post-457059","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-colombia","9":"tag-colombian-president","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-general-assembly","12":"tag-gustavo-petro","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-palestine","16":"tag-pro-palestine","17":"tag-trump","18":"tag-un","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa","22":"tag-visa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115280114563942184","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}