Published on 12/6/2026
Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused the United States of restricting his movements and preventing him from meeting with the Democratic Mayor of New York, Zahran Mamdani, who opposes US President Donald Trump.
Petro said – on the “X” platform – that he was not informed at all that he would face restrictions on his movements, considering that restricting his freedom to speak with the mayor of New York and restricting his intellectual freedom – by preventing him from giving a lecture to which he was invited in Boston – is undemocratic.
Last Wednesday, The Washington Post reported that Petro was scheduled to meet with Mamdani while he was in New York to attend meetings at the United Nations headquarters.
The newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying that the Colombian authorities canceled the meeting after American officials warned them that the move would constitute a violation of the visa ban imposed on Petro last year amid a diplomatic crisis with Trump.
Currently, Petro can only enter the United States under a diplomatic visa designated exclusively for official activities and missions.
Mamdani was elected mayor of New York last November based on a “socialist” platform that supports the integration of immigrants, which some saw as a rejection of Trump’s hard-line policies.
Petro – the first leftist president of Colombia – had previously entered into heated debates with Trump over several issues, starting with the deportation of immigrants and deadly US strikes on boats that Washington says are used to smuggle drugs, all the way to an assessment of Petro’s own record in combating cocaine smuggling.
Last Wednesday, Petro delivered a speech at a UN Security Council meeting in which he attacked Israel, which he compared to the “Nazi regime” against the backdrop of the war of extermination it carried out in the Gaza Strip.
A few days ago, the outgoing Colombian president directed harsh criticism at Trump, after the latter announced his support for the right-wing candidate, Abelardo de la Esperilla, in the run-off round of the presidential elections in Colombia.
The runoff will be held on June 21, in which de la Esperilla will compete with leftist candidate Ivan Cepeda (Pietro’s ally), while the Colombian constitution prohibits the president from assuming a second term.
