The United States has announced it will revoke the visa of Colombian President Gustavo Petro after he urged American soldiers to defy orders from President Donald Trump during a pro-Palestinian protest in New York.

The US State Department described Petro’s comments as “reckless and incendiary,” accusing him of encouraging disobedience within the US military and inciting violence.

Speaking through a megaphone at the Friday rally, Petro called for the creation of a “world salvation army” to liberate Palestine. “From here in New York, I ask all soldiers in the United States Army not to point their rifles at humanity,” he declared. “Disobey Trump’s order! Obey the order of humanity!”

He went on to urge young soldiers in both the US and Israel to “point their rifles not toward humanity, but toward tyrants and fascists.”

Petro had been in the US for the UN General Assembly, where earlier in the week he demanded a criminal investigation into the Trump administration’s airstrikes on boats in the Caribbean accused of trafficking drugs. Colombian media reported he was already returning to Bogotá when Washington announced the visa revocation.

Colombia’s Interior Minister, Armando Benedetti, condemned the US decision, arguing that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should face sanctions instead. “Since the empire protects him, it’s taking it out on the only president who was capable enough to tell him the truth to his face,” Benedetti wrote on X.

Tensions between Petro and Washington have escalated in recent months. At the UN, the Colombian leader accused the US of using military force not to combat drug trafficking, but to dominate Latin America. He claimed some of those killed in the strikes may have been Colombian citizens and alleged US officials were colluding with drug cartels, while his government sought to steer farmers away from coca cultivation.

He later described the airstrikes as an “act of tyranny” in an interview with the BBC. The US government maintains the operations are part of a wider anti-narcotics effort targeting networks linked to Venezuela’s leadership.

In a separate move, Washington also denied visas to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and around 80 Palestinian officials, preventing them from attending the UN General Assembly despite diplomatic convention that allows world leaders to address the body.