The United States is planning to revoke the visa of Colombian President Gustavo Petro on the grounds that he ‘encouraged U.S. soldiers to defy commands and instigate violence’ during an event in New York on Friday, according to the State Department. 

While attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Petro addressed a gathering outside the U.N. headquarters saying, ‘I urge all soldiers of the U.S. army not to aim their weapons at people. Defy the directives of (President Donald) Trump. Listen to the call of humanity!’ 

The State Department announced on X Friday evening that Petro would lose his visa.

‘Earlier today, Colombian president @petrogustavo stood on a New York City street and called on U.S. soldiers to defy orders and promote violence. As a result of his irresponsible and provocative actions, we have decided to revoke Petro’s visa,’ stated the officials.

Petro’s social media profile on Friday showed he had reposted several video clips of himself speaking at a gathering of pro-Palestinian protesters and former Pink Floyd guitarist Roger Waters in New York. 

His office and Colombia’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In his speech to the global gathering on Tuesday, Petro also hit out at Trump, condemning three attacks this month, which the White House has defended as operations against drug traffickers. 

He accused the former president of criminalizing poverty and migration.

Petro said: ‘Criminal proceedings must be opened against those officials, who are from the U.S., even if it includes the highest-ranking official who gave the order: President Trump.’ 

He added that passengers killed in the strikes were not members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang, as claimed by the Trump administration after the first attack.

Petro said the passengers ‘were simply poor young people from Latin America who had no other option.’

Later in an interview with the BBC, he called the strikes an ‘act of tyranny’ and questioned the US’ methods. 

‘Why launch a missile if you could simply stop the boat and arrest the crew,’ he asked. That’s what one would call murder.’

He added: ‘We have a long history of collaborating with American agencies and other agencies of carrying out maritime seizures of cocaine,” he said. “No one has ever died before. There is no need to kill anyone.’

Petro also claimed the United States was responsible for ‘genocide’ in Gaza.  

‘Free Palestine. If Gaza falls, humanity dies,’ Petro said in a post on X.

The Colombian leader, a vocal opponent of Israel’s war in Gaza, has suspended exports of coal to Israel.

Petro’s remarks at the UN came just after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced his government is preparing constitutional decrees to defend the country in the event of an ‘attack’ from US forces.

Few details of the strikes have been made public. The first, on September 2, killed 11 people according to Washington. 

Officials said that the vessel and another targeted on September 16 had departed from Venezuela. 

Three people died in the second strike, while a third boat was hit on Friday, leaving another three dead.

The Trump administration has defended the escalation as vital to combat drug smuggling into the US but has not explained how the boats’ cargo was assessed or how passengers were linked to criminal groups. 

National security officials later told Congress the first vessel was fired on after it changed course and appeared to head back to shore.

‘They said that the missiles in the Caribbean were used to stop drug trafficking. That is a lie stated here in this very rostrum,’ Petro declared, in what appeared to be a direct response to Trump’s earlier speech. 

‘Was it really necessary to bomb unarmed, poor young people in the Caribbean?’

Maduro has accused Washington of using drug allegations as cover for a military operation designed to topple his government.

Meanwhile, members of the Democratic Party have questioned the Trump administration over the legality of the strikes, which have been described as extrajudicial executions by the UN.

In the interview, Petro claimed that the US leader was humiliating his people and insisted that countries like his will not ‘bow down to the king.’ 

Trump and Petro have traded barbs in recent months. In a presidential memorandum, where Washington decertified Colombia for what it says was a failure to meet its anti-drug commitments, Trump said: ‘The failure of Colombia to meet its drug control obligations over the past year rests solely with its political leadership.’

Petro hit out at the US decision saying: ‘This is a deep insult to a society that has spilled the most blood so that the United States and Europe consume less cocaine, and obviously an insult to my own life

The strained relationship between the two leaders has been seen as a threat to the prospect of their countries remaining allies. 

Colombia has received billions of dollars in aid from the US since the Clinton presidency. 

After his return to the White House earlier this year, Trump toughened his stance on illegal migration from Latin America and said he would clamp down on drugs coming to the US from the region. 

He also designated several drug-trafficking syndicates as terrorist organisations. 

In recent weeks, Washington has strengthened its presence in the southern Caribbean, deploying additional warships to the region alongside thousands of Marines and sailors. 

Petro, Colombia’s first left-wing president, restored diplomatic ties with Venezuela after taking office in 2022.