Colombia's President Gustavo Petro said today he plans to sever diplomatic ties with Israel over Israeli actions in Gaza.
Speaking at a May Day rally in Bogotá’s central Plaza de Bolívar, Petro criticized Israel for “the girls, the boys, the babies who have died dismembered by the bombs.”
“Here before you, the government of change, the president of the republic, informs that tomorrow diplomatic relations with the State of Israel will be broken,” he said.
If Petro follows through with his threat, Colombia will join Belize and Bolivia as Western Hemisphere nations that have suspended or severed ties with Israel over the conflict in Gaza.
Cuba broke relations with Israel in 1973 after siding with Egypt in the Yom Kippur War, and Venezuela cut ties in 2009 in response to the 2008-09 Israel-Hamas war over Gaza.
Colombia’s relations with Israel were previously so close that the South American country is the single largest overseas user of the Israeli made Kfir jet fighter.
In March, Petro first threatened to break relations with Israel with a post on social platform X, which was met with an Israeli Foreign Ministry response saying Israel “will not give in to any pressures and threats,” according to a report by The Associated Press.
