Colombia’s top diplomat Luis Gilberto Murillo told Reuters in remarks published on Monday that the socialist government of President Gustavo Petro will “really insist” to Israel’s allies “in the global north” to stop supporting the country’s self-defense operations against the terrorist organization Hamas.
The “global north,” Foreign Minister Murillo claimed, has “the chance right now to convince [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu that it is important to reach a ceasefire” with Hamas.
Murillo did not name any specific members of the alleged “global north” that Bogotá is seeking to pressure into adopting pro-Hamas stances, but Murillo is planning to meet on Tuesday and Wednesday with representatives of the American government in the Colombian capital, reportedly to discuss issues of “mutual interest.”
Colombia, which had maintained conservative or center-right governments throughout its entire history before Petro, was once one of Israel’s most reliable allies in Latin America. Under Petro, a former member of the Marxist M19 terrorist guerrilla and a hardline socialist, Bogotá has condemned Israel’s efforts against Hamas, accusing Netanyahu of “genocide” for operations against Hamas in its stronghold of Gaza. Petro announced in May that he would cut diplomatic ties with Israel and has since declared his government would replace its embassy in Tel Aviv with one in Ramallah, West Bank, intended to establish ties with the non-existent state of “Palestine.”
Gustavo Petro is the first leftist president in Colombian history.
Petro’s belligerence against Israel, often manifested through extensive screeds on his personal Twitter account, escalated dramatically after Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, killing an estimated 1,200 civilians and abducting about 250 people. Of those, an estimated 130 remain in Hamas captivity, though it is unclear at press time how many are still alive.
Hamas terrorists invaded residential communities and slaughtered entire families, including infants, in their homes on that day. Survivors recount, and videos taken by the terrorists themselves corroborate, widespread crimes against humanity including torture, gang rape, and desecration of corpses.
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Petro responded to those events by comparing Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler and Israel to Nazi Germany.
Murillo, Petro’s foreign minister, has not taken as strident a stance against Israel, though he echoes the policy objectives of his socialist boss. Speaking to Reuters, Murillo lamented that the United Nations had not been able to act to prevent Israel from attacking Hamas terrorists and encouraged other states to pressure the international body to act. He emphasized the influence unspecified “global north” countries can allegedly have on the situation.
“We must really insist, not just to the government of Israel but to its most important allies, many in the global north,” Murillo told Reuters. “It is they who have the chance right now to convince Netanyahu that it is important to reach a ceasefire, that it is key to permit humanitarian aid for Gaza and that it is central to sit down to negotiate a peaceful end to the conflict.”
The Colombian magazine Semana reported on Tuesday that Murillo is scheduled to meet United States Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Richard Verma for a “high-level dialogue” intended to be focused on a wide variety of topics. According to the publication, which cited the Colombian Foreign Ministry, the two will reportedly discuss “rural transformation, public diplomacy, the environment and climate change, energy, mining, and infrastructure, peace, democracy, and human rights,” and immigration, among other topics. Semana did not specifically mention Israel as a topic of discussion, but the situation in Gaza could fall into topics such as “peace” and “public diplomacy.”
Petro will likely encourage Murillo to approach the discussion assertively, as Petro himself published another rant on the social media site Twitter on Monday apparently condemning the United States for its alliance with Israel, using antisemitic tropes.
In response to Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operations in Rafah, Petro wrote, “As many bankers and equity funds belong to the people who support the massacre, the powerful self-proclaimed democratic countries are not capable of opposing [Israel].”
Petro has repeatedly compared Israel to Nazi Germany since October 7, failing to comparably condemn Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization, for its killing spree.
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“If I had lived in Germany in 1933 I would have fought on the side of the Jews and if I had lived in Palestine in 1948 I would have fought on the Palestinian side,” Petro wrote on October 8. “Now the neo-Nazis want the destruction of the Palestinian people, freedom and culture. Now the democrats and progressives want peace and freedom for the Israeli and Palestinian people.”
In May, Petro called Netanyahu “genocidal” and declared, “you stand next to those who killed millions of Jews in Europe.”
“I am not a supporter of Hamas because I am a supporter of republican, plebeian, and secular democracy,” Petro caveated as an afterthought.
Petro also claimed in March that M19, the Marxist terrorist guerrilla he belonged to as a youth, trained with Palestinian terrorists in Libya.
“Why does Petro defend the Palestinian people?” the president asked, referring to himself in the third person. “Ah, because we have the same root.”
The Colombian government under Petro has been aggressively opposed to Israel’s self-defense. Washington under fellow leftist Joe Biden has been openly critical in some cases of Netanyahu’s self-defense operations, however, particularly complaining that Netanyahu seeks to eliminate Hamas’s presence in its last remaining Gaza stronghold, the southern city of Rafah. Biden’s top diplomat, Antony Blinken, has enthusiastically promoted the the creation of a Palestinian state during his post-October 7 tours of the Middle East, touting a key Hamas political goal.
AL-‘ULA, SAUDI ARABIA – JANUARY 8: United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) meets with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (R) in Al-‘Ula, Saudi Arabia on January 8, 2024. (Chuck Kennedy/Department of State Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Petro, not waiting for the existence of a Palestinian state, is moving his diplomats to Ramallah. Margarita Manjarrez, Colombia’s current ambassador to Israel, confirmed on Tuesday that her embassy must be shut down by June 30 per Petro’s orders. The process to shut down the embassy, she explained to Semana, will require the deregistering of official diplomatic vehicles, relinquishing official residences, and ensuring a legal end to any open contracts in Israel.