Washington, Sept 27 – The US State Department announced Friday it would revoke the visa of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, citing his “reckless and incendiary actions” during a pro-Palestinian street protest in New York.

Petro, Colombia’s first left-wing president, had addressed a rally with a megaphone, urging “nations of the world” to form an army “larger than that of the United States” and calling on American soldiers to disobey orders from President Donald Trump.

“Earlier today, Colombian president @petrogustavo stood on a NYC street and urged US soldiers to disobey orders and incite violence,” the State Department said in a post on X. “We will revoke Petro’s visa due to his reckless and incendiary actions.”

Colombian media reported that Petro was already en route to Bogotá on Friday night. His remarks followed an interview with the BBC earlier in the week, in which he likened US airstrikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean to an “act of tyranny.”

The US says the strikes are part of anti-drug operations targeting networks linked to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Petro, however, suggested Colombians may have been among the victims.

Colombia’s Interior Minister Armando Benedetti criticized Washington’s decision, writing on X that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visa should have been revoked instead.

Relations between Petro’s government and the Trump administration have soured in recent months, complicating cooperation between Washington and Bogotá even as Colombia remains the world’s largest producer of cocaine.

The visa move came the same week Washington denied entry to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and dozens of Palestinian officials, barring them from attending the UN General Assembly in New York.