Colombia’s government will break ties with Israel, President Gustavo Petro said at annual Labor Day celebrations in the capital Bogota.
In a speech, Petro said that “the era of genocide, of the extermination of a people before our eyes, cannot return.”
All of humanity in the streets agrees with us: the era of genocide, of the extermination of an entire people before our eyes, before our humanity, cannot return. If Palestine dies, humanity dies.
President Gustavo Petro
The decision implies that Israel’s ambassador to Bogota, Gali Dagan, and his staff have 72 hours to leave the country after being formally notified by the Foreign Ministry.
The ambassador did not immediately respond to the president’s announcement.
The Colombian president has been among the most vociferous opponents of Israel’s war on occupied territory around the Mediterranean city of Gaza in response to a deadly attack by Palestinian armed groups in October last year.
Petro has accused Israel of committing a genocide in Gaza on multiple occasions since the beginning of Israel’s offensive that has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to the United Nations.
Colombia’s ambassador to Tel Aviv had already been recalled and arms purchases had also already been suspended.
