A politician rarely grabs my attention for a positive reason, because, let's face it, most politicians globally seem to care only about themselves. Very seldom will you find a person leading a country who actually cares about the people.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro is one of the rare politicians everyone should know about.
President Petro is now the first head of state to have their visa revoked by the US for comments made during a visit to the UN General Assembly. His speech was intense, calling out Israel and America for their atrocities in Gaza and right-wing rhetoric. To put this into context, even countries like Iran, which have a very strained relationship with America, haven’t gone through this. That’s how you know Petro really hit a nerve.
Standing tall at the UN podium, he said with vindication:
“There is no superior race, there is no ‘chosen people of God.’ It is neither the United States nor Israel. The ‘chosen people of God’ is all of humanity.”
After making his historic speech to the world, he left the UN to join pro-Palestine protestors outside the building. He told the crowds that Colombia plans to present a resolution to the UN seeking to establish an “army for the salvation of the world” whose first job will be the “liberation of Palestine”.
In an unofficial translation of his speech to the protestors, he told them that world nations will contribute soldiers to the army that will enforce the orders of international justice, and it must be larger than the US military.
I can’t emphasize enough the significance of what Petro did in that moment. While most global world leaders do not dare to cross Donald Trump, he came into the country where Trump is president, gave a powerful speech against both America and Israel, and then left the UN to join street organizers. Throughout my years covering politics, I have never seen anything like it.
The Trump administration did not like the moves Petro made, and in response, the Department of State revoked Petro’s visa “due to his reckless and incendiary actions.”
In response, Petro said that he doesn’t care. He said on X:
“I no longer have a visa to travel to the United States. I don’t care. I don’t need a visa … because I’m not only a Colombian citizen but a European citizen, and I truly consider myself a free person in the world.”
Petro has been pretty consistent throughout his presidency. The left-wing president took office in 2022 and has since repeatedly called what is happening in Gaza a genocide. In 2024, he severed diplomatic ties with Israel, citing their “genocidal” government in Gaza, including the attacks on Palestinian aid seekers, which he compared to the Holocaust.
In July, he reimposed a total ban on coal exports to Israel, citing that Colombia will “not be complicit” in Israel’s genocide.
Am I saying that Gustavo Petro is perfect? No. His ratings in Colombia have steadily been around 34%, which is significantly lower than when he first took office in 2022. He doesn’t have a good relationship with his Congress either. He makes a lot of polarizing statements, and the high cost of living is one of the major drivers of this dissatisfaction, along with economic insecurities.
In a world where political leadership has become a scripted performance intended to satisfy the powerful, Gustavo Petro stands out as an exception, uncompromising and willing to confront power. He is not perfect, nor does he pretend to be. His government faces significant domestic challenges, and most Colombians are critical of his performance. But in the international arena, where complicity is the currency and silence is the currency, Petro has chosen otherwise.
He stood at the center of the American empire, at a time when Donald Trump is once more in power, and delivered a speech that condemned injustice in all its manifestations, naming names, pointing fingers, and refusing to back down. And then he stood his ground outside the chambers of power and stood with people in the streets.
That takes guts. That takes true defiance.
You don’t need to subscribe to all that Petro says to recognize the worth of what he’s achieved. At a moment of cautious political hesitancy, Gustavo Petro took the world back to what conviction looks like.
This is so well said. I agree wholeheartedly. I have watched that speech several times. I am so disgusted that DJT revoked his VISA. Disgust doesn’t do it justice. What a blight Trump is on America and on the world. What a fool America is now played on the world stage. The havoc he is wreaking by dismantling the American government while at the same time stamping his name on anything left standing. Husks. The stupidity, the complete lack of strategy; how blindly and blithely, in all his inglorious ignorance, DJT tips the balance of global power against us; I don’t know for how long. I fear the worst. He is a malignant buffoon. I am so afraid the Experiment has been ended by the absolute greed and utter rot of a few bad men. Any fool can tear things down and divide people. I don’t know if we have the ingenuity to build back better. Or at all.
Agree!