America’s enemies aren’t just at the gates. They’re already in.
And now a foreign leader in America demanded US troops defect.
State Department Slaps Colombian President with Visa Revocation Over Call to Undermine U.S. Troops
In a swift diplomatic rebuke, the U.S. State Department announced Friday it is revoking the visa of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, hours after the leftist leader used a bullhorn at a chaotic pro-Palestinian protest in New York City to urge American soldiers to mutiny against President Trump’s orders.
The move escalates longstanding tensions between the Trump administration and Petro, who has repeatedly clashed with U.S. policies on immigration and foreign aid, marking a rare instance of visa sanctions against a sitting foreign head of state and signaling zero tolerance for what officials called “reckless and incendiary actions” on American soil.
“Earlier today, Colombian president [Gustavo Petro] stood on a NYC street and urged US soldiers to disobey orders and incite violence,” the State Department posted on X, underscoring the gravity of Petro’s remarks just steps from the United Nations headquarters where he had arrived for the General Assembly.
Petro, flanked by a translator and a cheering crowd of anti-Israel activists, amplified his message outside the UN: “soldiers of the army of the United States not to point their guns at people.” “Disobey the orders of Trump,” he bellowed. “Obey the orders of humanity!” The outburst, captured on video and shared widely online, came amid massive demonstrations coinciding with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address, where protesters decried U.S. support for Israel’s Gaza operations.
Petro’s Protest Partnership: Rubbing Shoulders with Rock Icon Turned BDS Firebrand
Petro’s street theater unfolded alongside Roger Waters, the British co-founder of Pink Floyd and a lightning rod for controversy due to his vehement anti-Israel activism and support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Waters, who has drawn fire for equating Israel with N-zi Germany, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Petro as the Colombian leader rallied the throng at Dag Hammarskjold Park.
The duo later posed triumphantly beside a towering Palestinian flag, a moment Petro immortalized on X: “With Roger Waters. Free Palestine,” he captioned a video clip. “If Gaza falls, humanity dies.”
Waters’ presence amplified the spectacle, given his history of provocative statements and performances that have sparked international backlash.
In a 2023 Berlin concert, the musician donned a N-zi-like uniform while a crucifix-shaped screen flashed the names of Holocaust victim Anne Frank alongside slain Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, prompting the Israeli Foreign Ministry to blast him on X: “Good morning to every one but Roger Waters who spent the evening in Berlin (Yes Berlin) desecrating the memory of Anne Frank and the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust.”
Waters, who once told Rolling Stone in 2017 he holds a U.S. visa but pays “a lot of tax” here, has long been a fixture at such rallies, but his alliance with a foreign president on U.S. streets crossed a new threshold, critics argue, by blending rock-star flair with calls to subvert American military discipline.
From Migrant Standoff to Diplomatic Firestorm: A Timeline of U.S.-Colombia Frictions
This isn’t Petro’s first rodeo with Trump; their feud ignited earlier this year when the Colombian leader, a former guerrilla fighter, balked at repatriating deported nationals amid the president’s immigration crackdown.
Trump fired back with threats of visa sanctions, ramped-up traveler screenings, and emergency tariffs as high as 50% on Colombian imports, forcing Petro to fold quickly—he even volunteered his presidential jet for the migrant transfers.
Petro’s UN speech earlier in the week only poured fuel on the fire, branding Trump “complicit in genocide” over Gaza and demanding criminal probes into U.S. airstrikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean, strikes the White House insists targeted traffickers, not civilians.
As Petro reportedly boarded a flight back to Bogota late Friday—his visa already in jeopardy—the fallout rippled through bilateral ties, with Colombia’s Interior Minister Armando Benedetti decrying the revocation as an assault on leaders who “dared to denounce the genocide against Palestine.”
Yet, from a U.S. vantage, the episode exposes the perils of hosting foreign dignitaries who exploit American freedoms to undermine its institutions, a line the Trump administration vows not to let blur. With Colombia decertified last week as a full partner in the drug war despite continued U.S. funding, the visa axing could herald tougher measures ahead, reminding allies that loyalty to shared values isn’t optional in an era of global realignments.
