It was supposed to be New York mayor Zohran Mamdani’s first meeting with a foreign leader but President Donald Trump nixed the scheduled meeting of Mamdani with Colombian president Gustavo Petro, a fellow democratic socialist. The Washington Post reported that the Colombian government quietly called off the meeting after a nudge from the US government. A meeting was held between US and Colombian officials in Bogotá in which State Department officials made clear that this week’s engagement was unacceptable, the report said, citing two people.Petro, who posted ‘Heil Hitler’ in response to an op-ed column that supported a right-wing presidential candidate, came to New York for the United Nations events but his private meeting with Mamdani was canceled.“A visa is a privilege, not a right,” said the State Department official. “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.”If Petro met Mamdani, he would have been violating visa restrictions made against him after he criticized the US support of Israel’s war in Gaza, they said.Colombia holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council in June. Though the Trump administration revoked Petro’s visa last year for his public comments, it continues to allow travel to the UN under its responsibilities as the host of the world body’s headquarters. Mamdani and Petro planned to hold a private bilateral meeting followed by a public event.“One doesn’t have to like Gustavo Petro to recognize that he isn’t in the same category as those leaders,” Adam Isacson, a Colombia expert 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.”
