Colombian President Gustavo Petro is seemingly no longer welcome in the United States.
Petro, a former member of the 19th of April Movement guerrilla group and Colombia’s first leftist president, claimed the Trump administration revoked his visa to attend meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
He is instead be replaced by the Minister of Finance Germán Avila, who is in Washington, D.C. this week.
The major international snub comes after Donald Trump threatened ‘decisive retaliatory measures’ against government officials over Colombia’s refusal to let two US Military flights full of migrants land in January.
‘I can’t go anymore because I think they’ve revoked my visa,’ Petro said during a Council of Ministers meeting on Monday.
‘I didn’t need a visa, but hey, I’ve seen Donald Duck several times. So, I’m off to see other things.’
Petro previously visited the United States in September 2024 for a climate conference in Chicago, as well as the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
In April 2023, he was hosted at the White House by former President Joe Biden. However, there has been an ongoing rift with the current administration.
Petro clashed with Trump after he blocked two military flights deporting Colombian nationals from the United States on January 26.
The Colombian leader slammed the Trump administration for the treatment of 160 people, who were handcuffed on the planes
Trump responded by threatening to impose a 25 percent tariff on incoming good and visa restrictions and sanctions and vowed to increase the tax by an additional 25 percent.
‘I have directed my Administration to immediately take the following urgent and decisive retaliatory measures,’ Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.
He announced the 25 per cent tariffs, as well as his imposition of ‘A Travel Ban and immediate Visa Revocations on the Colombian Government Officials, and all Allies and Supporters.’
All ‘party members, family members, and supporters of the Colombian government’ also will face visa sanctions,’ Trump added.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio then joined the fray by releasing a statement, alleging that Petro had previously agreed to accept the deportation flights, but canceled them once the planes were already in the air.
Petro retaliated by announcing U.S. imports would be face a 25 percent tax before he eventually backed down and agreed to accept the migrants.
