Trump nixed Mamdanis planned meeting with leftist Colombia prez who tweeted Heil Hitler: report
The Trump administration nixed New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plans to meet with Colombia’s outgoing leftist president, Gustavo Petro, according to a report.Mamdani was set to meet Petro — who on Sunday tweeted “Heil Hitler” in response to an op-ed column that supported a right-wing presidential candidate — while he was in the Big Apple for United Nations events this week, the Washington Post reported.Hizzoner was poised to speak with the fellow democratic socialist to discuss democracy in the Americas in a private bilateral meeting that would help cement him as a rising leader of the global left, anonymous sources told the outlet.But the event was quietly called off after US and Colombian officials met in Bogotá, where the State Department blasted the planned engagement as unacceptable, the report said.Colombian officials then interpreted the State Department’s sentiment as a threat to arrest Petro on site, sources told the outlet.
A State Department official told the Washington Post that the visit would violate visa restrictions placed on Petro after he called on US troops to “disobey” President Trump during a New York City protest with controversial Pink Floyd founder Roger Waters. “A visa is a privilege, not a right,” the State Department official told the outlet.“Any individual’s U.S.visa is at risk of revocation if they visit America and outrageously implore U.S.
soldiers to disobey orders of the duly elected president of the United States.”The US State Department did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.The meeting was supposed to take place as part of Petro’s itinerary of UN Security Council events in Manhattan, which he is still allowed to attend as host of the world body’s headquarters, the report said.
After the discussion was nixed, Bogotá told Mamdani’s office that the left-wing leader’s trip was being shortened and would “exclude the possibility for a conversation,” a person fam...