Colombia Freezes Coal Exports To Israel Over Gaza War

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has announced that his country will suspend coal exports to Israel over the war in Gaza, as relations sour between two countries that were once close military and commercial allies, Manuel Rueda reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Colombia’s first leftist president broke diplomatic ties with Israel as early as May.

Petro wrote on the social media platform X that coal exports will only resume “when the genocide” in Gaza stops.

Petro also posted a draft decree, which states that coal exports will only resume if Israel complies with a recent order by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for it to withdraw its troops from Gaza.

According to Colombia’s National Statistics Department, coal exports to Israel were worth more than $320 million in the first eight months of last year. That’s a small fraction of the nation’s overall coal exports, which were worth more than $9 billion in 2023.

Israel imports more than 50% of its coal from Colombia, according to the American Journal for Transportation (AJT), and uses much of it to feed its power plants.

Petro, who was elected into office in 2022 as Colombia’s first leftist president, broke diplomatic ties with Israel in May, saying that he could not maintain relations with the “genocidal” government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Both governments have continued to keep consulates in each other’s territories and conduct trade.s