BOGOTÁ, June 12, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused the United States of trampling his freedom by preventing him from meeting New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a fellow critic of US President Donald Trump.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Petro was scheduled to meet with Mamdani while in New York for meetings at the United Nations.

But Bogota canceled the encounter after US officials warned it would violate the visa ban imposed on Petro last year during a row with Trump, anonymous sources told the Post.

Petro can currently only enter the United States with a diplomatic visa for official business only.

He said on Thursday that he was never informed that he would face restrictions on his movements.

"I consider it undemocratic that my freedom to speak with the mayor of New York was restricted...and that my freedom of thought was restricted by not allowing me to give a lecture to which I was invited in Boston," he wrote on X.

Democrat Mamdani was elected mayor in November on a "socialist," migrant-inclusive platform seen as a repudiation of Trump's hardline policies.

Petro, Colombia's first left-wing president, has repeatedly crossed swords with Trump on issues ranging from migrant deportations to deadly US strikes on suspected drug boats to Petro's own record on combatting cocaine trafficking.

In an interview with AFP last week the Colombian leader, who is in his last weeks in office, accused Washington of allying itself with the very drug traffickers it claims to combat by supporting right-wing lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella to succeed Petro.

De la Espriella, who is tipped to beat Petro's preferred candidate, left-wing senator Ivan Cepeda in a June 21 presidential runoff, made his name representing drug traffickers, paramilitaries and a pyramid scheme kingpin.

He has promised to deepen ties with the United States "like never before" if elected.