'I don't care': Colombia's Petro defies US visa revocation, stands firm on Palestine
Colombian President Gustavo Petro has defiantly shrugged off the US decision to revoke his visa, describing the move as another attempt by Washington to silence calls for action on Palestine.
Petro, who returned to his country after attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York, said he no longer had a visa to travel to the US but added, “I don’t care.”
He explained that he did not need a visa because he is not only a Colombian citizen but also a European citizen. Petro added that he considers himself “a free person in the world” and that every person on earth must be free.
The visa revocation came after Petro publicly urged US soldiers to reject orders from President Donald Trump and instead “obey the orders of humanity.”
Petro, who has previously clashed with the Trump administration over migration and drug trafficking issues, repeated his call for an armed force to “free Palestine” while addressing a group of pro-Palestine supporters outside the UN headquarters on Friday.
In a video posted to social media, Petro can be heard saying that the global force “has to be bigger than that of the United States.”
The US State Department said Petro’s visa was being revoked “due to his reckless and incendiary actions.”
In response, Petro called Washington’s decision a violation of international norms, saying it “breaks all the norms of immunity on which the functioning of the United Nations and its General Assembly is based.”
Washington announced on 29 August that it was denying and revoking visas for members of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority “on national security grounds,” accusing them of “undermining the prospects for peace.”
Petro said the fact that they were barred from entry —and that his visa was revoked for asking the US and Israeli forces not to support a genocide— “demonstrates that the US government no longer complies with international law.”
Colombia under Petro has increasingly voiced support for Palestinian rights and condemned Israel's genocidal war on Gaza.
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