BOGOTA, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs Rosa Villavicencio said Monday that she is giving up her U.S. visa in solidarity with President Gustavo Petro, whose visa was revoked after he criticized Israel's actions in Gaza during the UN General Assembly in New York.

"We do not accept that a foreign power decides who can speak or attend international forums on behalf of the Colombian state. The dignity of our nation is not negotiable," Villavicencio told reporters at a press conference in Bogota, capital of Colombia.

Villavicencio said her decision was a political act in line with defending Colombia's sovereignty. By revoking Petro's visa, the United States had violated international diplomatic norms and undermined his immunity, she added. "Our sovereignty does not kneel. Colombia demands respect," she wrote on social media X.

She added that Colombia will continue to participate independently in multilateral forums, noting that under the 1947 UN headquarters agreement, the United States is obligated to guarantee entry for all delegations.

The minister accused Washington of breaking UN General Assembly rules by unilaterally revoking Petro's visa, saying that his remarks in New York were not incitements to violence, as the United States alleged, but calls to stop "a genocide affecting humanity." x

Villavicencio also called for considering a "neutral" country to host the UN headquarters in order to strengthen multilateralism. ■