Economic and diplomatic steps taken by Colombia against Israel

In May this year, Colombia severed diplomatic ties with Israel, almost 67 years after first establishing relations with the Zionist entity.

For decades, Colombia's economy and politics have become entangled with Israel, but Colombia's current president, Gustavo Petro, the country's first left-wing political leader in recent history, is taking the country in a more pro-Palestine direction.

How did Colombia get to this position, and why has the country historically been one of Israel's greatest allies?

• Colombia's remarkable volte-face on Israel
  

  Colombia's pro-Palestine turn

  In today

For decades, Colombia has been one of the most reliable US client states. The country is strategically placed as a gateway to both Central and South America, and provides vital access to the Panama Canal.

The US has at least seven military bases in Colombia, and it uses the country to combat anti-imperialists in the region, primarily using mercenaries and paramilitaries.

Colombia's alliance with Israel was strengthened in 1988 when it signed major trade agreements with the Zionist regime.

By 2022, Israeli exports to Colombia amounted to approximately $139 million, primarily comprising communications equipment, machinery and chemical products.

Until recently, Colombia was considered to be Israel's primary diplomatic partner in the region and its second largest trading partner in South America after Brazil.

Speaking in 2020 with the AJC, a US-based Zionist lobby group, Colombia's president at the time, Ivan Duque, said Colombia is the number one ally of Israel in Latin America and the Caribbean.

But that position has now changed.

• Colombia bans coal exports to Israel ov
  

  Colombia officially approves ban on coal exports to Israel over its genocidal war

  Colombia officially approves ban on coal exports to Israel as punishment for the Gaza War.
  er its genocidal war

On the 16th of October last year, Israel partially suspended arms shipments to Colombia after President Petro criticized the Zionist regime for its bombardment of Gaza.

Just a couple of weeks later, on the first of November, Colombia recalled its ambassador to Israel, with President Petro condemning the Zionist regime's massacre of Palestinians.

Soon afterwards, he described Israel's campaign as genocide, being one of the first world leaders to do so.

Since then, Colombia's position against Israel has only strengthened.

• Colombia suspends arms purchases from Israel after Gaza aid convoy carnage
  

  Colombia suspends all arms purchases from Israel after Gaza aid convoy carnage

  Colombia suspends all purchases of weapons from Israel after Israeli forces shelled a crowd of Palestinians awaiting humanitarian aid south of Gaza City, leaving at least 112 dead and 760 injured.

In May, this year, President Petro announced the end of Colombia's diplomatic relations with Israel, saying that if Palestine dies, humanity dies.

And in mid August, Colombia officially ended all coal exports to Israel, a significant move; given that Colombia is Israel's biggest coal supplier.

While for many years it seemed inevitable that Colombia would remain Israel's strongest ally in Latin America, recent events have shown that the Zionist regime's support is crumbling and it will continue to face both diplomatic and economic blows because of its genocidal campaign in Gaza.

• ‘Until genocide stops’: Colombia to suspend coal exports to Israel
  

  ‘Until genocide stops’: Colombia to suspend coal exports to Israel

  Colombia says it will stop its coal exports to the Israeli regime as long as the latter sustains its months-long genocidal war against the Gaza Strip.

Transformation of Colombia's relationship with Zionist entity

Colombia's position in the imperialist world order has been second to none in Latin America. Its position as a base for the US military was boosted in 2017 when Colombia was the first and only Latin American country to be accepted into the NATO alliance as one of its global partners.

Colombia's alliance with the US has until recently meant that the country has had strong connections with Israel. Military and technological cooperation between Colombia and the Zionist entity has been substantial with Colombia buying aircraft, drones, weapons and intelligence systems from Israel.

The National Army of Colombia uses numerous Israeli weapons like the Galil and Tavor assault rifles, as well as the Nimrod anti-aircraft system, cementing Israel's role in Colombia's security landscape, or at least that used to be the case.

• Colombia to cut diplomatic ties with Israel over genocide in Gaza
  

  Colombia to cut diplomatic ties with Israel over genocide in Gaza

  Colombia decides to cut its diplomatic relations with the Israeli regime over the latter’s ongoing genocidal war against the Gaza Strip.

Colombia's current president has drastically altered the country's position breaking relations with Israel over its genocidal campaign in Gaza that came after numerous diplomatic fallouts between the two sides.

Last October, President Petro spoke publicly about the strong role that Zionists have played in repressing left wing forces in Colombia with the support of the USA. That's something that President Petro must feel deeply about as a former guerrilla fighter who suffered torture at the hands of the Colombian state before entering into politics.

For example, in the 1980s Zionist mercenaries were involved in the mass extermination of members of the Patriotic Union Party in Colombia.

 The left-wing party had been established through a peace deal between FARC guerrilla fighters and the Colombian state in 1984, but only two years later, the Colombian government secretly contracted former Mossad agent Rafael Eitan to plan the eradication of FARC, breaking the peace deal.

• Colombia’s new president
  

  Colombia’s new president: another swing to the left

  Columbia is part of the elite Latin American club that has gone to the left and away from Western dominance.

Journalist Dan Cohen has said that Eitan's expertise in waging war against the Palestinian peasant population made him the perfect man for the job.

In what became a two decade campaign of political genocide, over 4,000 members of the Patriotic Union Party were murdered, including two presidential candidates, 14 parliamentarians, 15 mayors and three senators.

Another of those mercenaries was Yair Klein, whose private mercenary group, Spearhead Limitedm provided weapons and training in Colombia, Lebanon, and, Sierra Leone.

In 1988, Klein arrived in Colombia where he helped train death squads, as well as the country's national army, in the use of terror methods against civilians.

Both Colombia and Palestine have served as testing grounds for military weapons and strategies which have been exported around the world, and ordinary Colombians have suffered hugely as a result.

But recent shifts in Colombia demonstrate how the Zionist regime's global influence is starting to weaken.

• The urgent need for ‘global de-Zionization’
  

  The urgent need for ‘global de-Zionization’

  The only just and workable solution to the problem of the occupation of Palestine is to end the Zionist colony.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk