A planned meeting between New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Colombian President Gustavo Petro was quietly called off following pressure from US President Donald Trump's administration, The Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing several people familiar with the affair.
The two leaders had intended to conduct a private meeting followed by a public event discussing Western democracy, one source told the Washington Post, during Petro's visit to the US due to Colombia's representative currently holding the United Nations Security Council presidency - a position that rotates yearly among UNSC members.
One State Department official claimed that the meeting with Mamdani would have caused Petro to be violating visa restrictions made against him after he criticized the United States' support of Israel's war in Gaza, and urged US soldiers to "Disobey the orders of Trump. Obey the orders of humanity.”
“A visa is a privilege, not a right,” the official said. “Any individual’s US visa is at risk of revocation if they visit America and outrageously implore US soldiers to disobey orders of the duly elected president of the United States.”
“Under our UN headquarters agreements, we allow diplomats to the UN, but Office of Foreign Assets Control and visa sanctions remain in place," the official added.
Petro has also accused the US of being "complicit in genocide" in Gaza, and has condemned its strikes on boats allegedly carrying narcotics, as well as the abduction and overthrow of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro.
Petro being punished for criticizing Trump administration, expert says
Adam Isacson, a Colombia expert at the Washington Office on Latin America, drew comparisons between the restrictions placed on Petro and other leaders whom the US has treated similarly, including former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and the Iranian delegation to the UN General Assembly last year.
“One doesn’t have to like Gustavo Petro to recognize that he isn’t in the same category as those leaders,” Isacson told the Washington Post, adding "If this is a new precedent of world leaders who criticize this administration having their UN visits truncated, then they will stop coming.”
“He’s not a dictator - his term ends in two months,“ Isacson said about Petro. “It appears that he’s being punished for the crime of criticizing the Trump administration.”
The White House did not comment on whether Trump was directly involved in the decision to prevent Petro and Mamdani's meeting.