Israel – Colombia: What are the origins of the “special relationship” between the two countries (and how the Petro changed it))

It was a “special relationship”, the two vertices of a strategic triangle with the United States that seems to be losing its shape this Wednesday, May 1.

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro announced that he would break diplomatic relations with Israel after several months of rapid deterioration in relations between the two countries.

Since Israel responded militarily to Gaza’s October 7 incursion by the terrorist group Hamas into its territory, Petro has frequently condemned “Israeli genocide” against the Strip’s Palestinians.

Meanwhile, some of Petro’s words sparked outrage in Israel. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Hayat accused the president of issuing a “hostile and anti-Semitic” statement days after the clashes escalated.

Mauricio Jaramillo, a specialist in international relations at the Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá, believes that Petro’s announcement this Wednesday is “surprising given the incident that took place in the middle of the May 1 parade,” but that it is “consistent and expected.” Due to the President’s position in the months of.

Petro’s government is the first leftist government in the history of Colombia.

His decision is now breaking the decades-long strong relationship between his country and Israel. Colombia was considered the Israelis’ main ally in Latin America.

But how did this special relationship arise? And what might change now for Colombia?

Colombia was one of the countries that abstained in the 1947 UN vote seeking to resolve the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis that ultimately led to the creation of the State of Israel.

In the 1960s, both countries established embassies in their respective territories and established commercial relations, but this allowed Colombia to protest in UN forums and vote against Israeli attacks and occupation of Palestinian territories and Latin America’s neutrality in that conflict. Didn’t stop me from advocating. ,

During the Cold War, Colombia became an important ally of the United States in Latin America.

“The combination of interests between these two countries and Israel created a strategic triangle between the three,” Marcos Paykel, a professor of diplomacy and international relations and representative of the Jewish community in Colombia, told BBC Mundo in an interview.

After the attacks on the Twin Towers in 2001 and the coming to power of Álvaro Uribe in 2002, Colombia joined what the United States called the “Global War on Terrorism”.,

From that moment on, Colombia declared the guerrillas on its territory a “terrorist organization” and switched from viewing its own war as an armed conflict to a “terrorist threat”.

And then the Israeli military, which had faced movements like Hamas and Hezbollah for decades, came fully in support of the Colombian armed forces.

According to official figures, between 2002 and 2006, imports of military material from Israel to Colombia doubled.

“Israel is one of Colombia’s major arms suppliers. The Galil rifle and KFIR aircraft are the fundamental weapons of the Colombian military,” says Jaramillo.

,Colombia maintained a historical balance with Israelis and ArabsHowever, my impression is that with the governments of Alvaro Uribe, Juan Manuel Santos and Ivan Duque, the country moved a little closer to Israel,” the expert says.

However, the Santos government recognized Palestine as a state in 2018.

Two years later, in 2020, Colombia and Israel signed a free trade agreement (FTA), already under Duque’s government.

Although the agreement was sold as “last generation”, Jaramillo points out that while commercial exchanges between the two countries are not as strong, the treaty was more symbolic than actual and the most important cooperation remained military.

Experts consulted by BBC Mundo also highlighted cultural and business exchanges between the two countries.

For example, over the past 24 years, Thousands of Colombians have been part of the MashawAn education program of the Israeli Foreign Ministry to train foreigners in fields such as medicine, agriculture, and technology.

That is why it is common to see Colombians and Israelis exchanging months or years in another country in search of enriching their training.

For months, Petro’s tough rhetoric regarding Israel’s military actions in Gaza and his threats to sever ties had predicted this outcome.

Hamas incursions into Israel on October 7 resulted in more than 1,200 people being killed and 240 taken hostage. More than 34,000 people have already lost their lives in Gaza due to Israel’s attacks.

After Petro compared Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant’s language to that used by “Nazis and Jews”. Israel announced in mid-October that it would “suspend security exports” to Colombia.

Meanwhile in February this year Petro suspends arms purchases from Israel Dozens of people were killed while searching for food in Gaza during the Israeli attack.

The president described these acts as “genocide”, said they were reminiscent of the “Holocaust” and said the world should “block” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Despite Petro’s previous threats to cut ties with Israel, Jaramillo recognizes the possibility that this Wednesday’s announcement will surprise the international community.

“On other occasions, Petro has issued promises or warnings that have taken time to come true. Now, The cost of not breaking up will be a huge blow to your credibility.“experts say.

There will be questions about the effects of this breakup, but for now there are few answers.

There are two precedents, however, that may provide clues.

“During the time of Rafael Correa, when diplomatic relations were broken with Ecuador, the commercial part was not touched. Relations with Venezuela were completely broken,” says Jaramillo.

What happens now will depend on Petro.

Experts ask, “Will he expel the ambassador? Will he suspend all military cooperation agreements? Will he try to keep all this symbolic so that the situation does not deteriorate further?”

However, these are questions that will be answered as the days go on Based on the rhetoric between the two countries, it is difficult to predict the outcome of the friendly.

A few hours after the Colombian president’s announcement, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz wrote in X that “History will remember that Gustavo Petro decided to take the side of the most disgusting monsters known to humanity, who burned infants, murdered Murdered, raped women and kidnapped innocent civilians.”

“Relations between Israel and Colombia have always been warm, and no hate-filled, anti-Semitic president will change that,” he said.

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