As President Abelardo de la Espriella takes office, Colombia joins a growing list of Latin American countries seeking to restore and strengthen relations with Israel.
Describing him as an “ally of U.S. President Donald Trump,” Reuters reported that “Colombia’s new right-wing President Abelardo De La Espriella was sworn in on Friday, using his inaugural speech to pledge a vigorous fight against drug trafficking, as well as austerity measures to restore confidence in the economy.”
De la Espriella’s inauguration certainly bolsters President Donald Trump’s campaign against the cross-border drug trade, which is run by a network of cartels and terrorist groups, including Iranian proxy terrorist group Hezbollah.
The 48-year-old former criminal lawyer has come to power on the promise of restoring order after four years of socialist mismanagement. He wants to clamp down on drug cartels, boost the economy, and cut government spending. The European media reported disparagingly on the prospect of another Latin American country aligning with the Trump administration. “The first thing on his to-do list, he said, was to join US President Donald Trump’s regional anti-cartel alliance known as Shield of the Americas,” French daily Le Monde reported. De la Espriella “has offered to host US troops on Colombian soil and wants to bomb jungle cocaine labs, build ‘ mega-prisons’ and slash the size of the state.”
Fulfilling a campaign promise by de la Espriella, his incoming administration has signed an agreement to move Colombia’s embassy to Jerusalem. According to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) on Wednesday, the country’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar recently “reached an agreement with Colombia’s designated Foreign Minister, Omar Bula Escobar, on relocating Colombia’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.”
On Saturday, The Times of Israel reported on Foreign Minister Sa’ar’s visit to Colombia ahead of the presidential inauguration:
Ahead of the inauguration, de la Espriella met with Sa’ar, whose office said they held a three-hour private meeting and lunch at de la Espriella’s office in Barranquilla.They discussed ways to strengthen bilateral diplomatic, security and economic relations, according to the Israeli readout.Sa’ar thanked de la Espriella for his decision to move Colombia’s embassy to Jerusalem, telling him, “You have laid a brick in the walls of Jerusalem.” (…)In Sa’ar’s Washington, DC, meeting with Colombia’s incoming Foreign Minister last month, Omar Bola Escobar, the two agreed on restoring full diplomatic relations, appointing ambassadors, lifting visa requirements, and relocating Colombia’s embassy to Jerusalem.They also agreed to renew Colombian coal shipments to Israel and for Bogota to withdraw from South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.Sa’ar also held a meeting in Cali with freshly inaugurated Vice President Jose Manuel Restrepo, which senior members of the new Colombian cabinet unexpectedly joined.
If the agreement materializes, Colombia will become the fourth Latin American nation to relocate its embassy to the Israeli capital. Following President Trump’s historic decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017 (a move long overdue), Guatemala, Honduras, and Paraguay transferred their missions, while Argentina and Ecuador have developed similar plans.
Argentina is leading the region’s diplomatic shift under President Javier Milei. In April, Buenos Aires became the first in the region to sign the Isaac Accords with Israel. Modeled on President Trump’s Abraham Accords, the framework seeks to deepen Israel’s diplomatic and commercial engagement in Latin America.
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