Talk about a foreign policy U-turn. Colombia’s Right-wing president-elect, Abelardo de la Espriella, is pulling off a massive diplomatic pivot: completely…
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Source: The Daily Wire
Talk about a foreign policy U-turn. Colombia’s Right-wing president-elect, Abelardo de la Espriella, is pulling off a massive diplomatic pivot: completely scrapping plans for an embassy in Ramallah and instead opening one in Jerusalem this August. The fiery conservative lawyer, nicknamed “El Tigre,” won the presidency in a razor-thin June runoff after promising to smash drug cartels and restore law and order. Now, he’s tearing up the radical anti-Israel playbook written by outgoing leftist Gustavo Petro, who accused Israel of genocide in May 2024. Petro had kicked out Israel’s ambassador in 2024 and lauded the idea of a new Palestinian mission. But de la Espriella officially killed those plans, agreeing with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar to re-establish deep ties with the Jewish state. For roughly 20 years prior to Petro’s denunciation of Israel, Israel had supported Colombia’s security operations with military technology and training of its special forces as it confronted Marxist guerrilla movements like the FARC and ELN as well as the drug cartels. By placing its flag in Jerusalem, Bogotá joins an exclusive club that includes the U.S., Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Fiji, and Somaliland. It’s a huge win for Jerusalem, regaining a crucial ally of 50 million people which is also a U.N. Security Council member and has had deep military ties to Israel dating back decades. Colombia’s diplomatic 180 isn’t happening in a vacuum.