Petro announces that Colombia will break relations with Israel over Gaza

Bogota. Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced on Wednesday that he will break diplomatic relations with Israel for its war actions in the Gaza Strip and reiterated that he considers them a “genocide,” as he has warned since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas.

“Tomorrow diplomatic relations with the State of Israel will be broken for having a government, for having a genocidal president… If Palestine dies, humanity dies and we are not going to let it die,” Petro said during his speech at the traditional march. of International Workers’ Day, which he attended to promote social reforms from the streets and with sectors related to his government.

Petro’s most recent warning to Israel was in March, when he anticipated taking the measure in case that country did not comply with a United Nations Security Council resolution that called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Israel responded that it will not give in to any pressure or threat.

Colombia thus became the third country in Latin America to break relations with Israel after the start of the war. Bolivia decided in October, asserting that Israel was committing “crimes against humanity against the Palestinian people,” while Belize did so in November after questioning Isarel for its “incessant indiscriminate bombings in Gaza that have killed 11,000 innocent civilians.” Other countries such as Chile and Nicaragua have raised the tone, but without breaking relations.

As a protest against Israel, Colombia announced in February that it would suspend the purchase of weapons from that country, a measure that came after Israel said in the midst of the diplomatic dispute that it would suspend exports of security materials.

Colombia uses Israeli-made warplanes and machine guns to fight drug cartels and insurgent groups and both countries signed a free trade agreement in 2020.

The day before, the Colombian Minister of Defense, Iván Velásquez, explained before Congress that there are current contracts with Israel that will be fulfilled, such as that of the Barak missile systems and others to provide maintenance and logistical support for the Kfir aircraft.