Colombia’s foreign minister said she’ll renounce her US visa in an “act of dignity” after Washington revoked President Gustavo Petro’s permit.
“Our sovereignty does not kneel. Colombia demands respect,” Foreign Affairs Minister Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio said on X on Monday.
The US government said Friday it would cancel Petro’s visa after he joined a pro-Palestinian demonstration on the sidelines of last week’s UN General Assembly in New York. The State Department called Petro’s actions “reckless and incendiary” after he called on US forces to disobey orders from Donald Trump.
Villavicencio’s move means that neither the president nor Colombia’s top diplomat would be able to travel visit the nation’s biggest trading partner and source of military aid.
“If they take away your visa for being a pacifist, well, many of us are saying we are also pacifists and we renounce that document,” Villavicencio said Monday, at a press conference in Bogota.
Despite the decision, Colombia will maintain its presence in the UN’a Security Council as a non-permanent member.
The clash underscores the sharp deterioration in ties between Colombia and the US under Petro, who has become a prominent critic of Trump in Latin America. The matter will likely be discussed between Trump and Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who are expected to meet this week.
On Sunday, Petro said said the cancellation wasn’t just an act against him but “against the United Nations, and against the struggle for the life of humanity.”
Petro’s four-year term ends in August 2026. Then-President Ernesto Samper had his visa revoked in the 1990s over allegations that drug money had financed his campaign.
Also Read: Colombian Leader’s Call to Defy Trump Amplifies Rifts in Region
With assistance from Oscar Medina and Andreina Itriago.
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