Colombia’s incoming president to abandon Palestinian embassy
Colombian president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella plans to halt the country’s embassy in Ramallah, signaling a shift towards stronger ties with Israel and the United States. He emphasizes the need for a modern, efficient diplomacy focused on national interests by reforming diplomatic missions. De la Espriella intends to relocate Colombia’s embassy from Tel Aviv to jerusalem, aligning with U.S.policy, and will close several embassies in countries like Algeria, Azerbaijan, Cuba, and others, while consolidating some existing missions. despite severing diplomatic ties with Israel in 2024 under previous President Gustavo Petro, de la Espriella aims to restore and strengthen relations with Israel. He holds both U.S.and colombian citizenship, is a member of the Republican Party, and is a known supporter of Trump, who endorsed him. The shift reflects Colombia’s broader diplomatic realignment and a rejection of previous policies related to Palestine and Israel.
Colombian president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella will halt plans to open an embassy to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, a sign of the country’s warming ties to Israel and the United States.
“Colombia needs a diplomacy that is modern, efficient, and at the service of national interests, not of politics or bureaucracy,” de la Espriella said in a video announcing broad diplomatic reforms, which will go into effect after he is inaugurated on Aug. 7.
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The relationship between Colombia and the U.S. has been strained, with President Donald Trump and current Colombian President Gustavo Petro having clashed repeatedly. Petro, who is leaving office, has also drawn Israel’s ire through his vocal opposition to the war in Gaza.
De la Espriella, who narrowly defeated Petro-backed candidate Ivan Cepeda in a June runoff election, described the need to “optimize” Colombia’s diplomatic missions.
De la Espriella also said that he would move the Colombian Embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The U.S. Embassy made the same move in 2018, a symbolic way of siding with the Israelis over Jerusalem’s territorial sovereignty.
Colombia severed diplomatic ties with Israel in 2024 in what Petro said at the time was a tribute to “the girls, the boys, the babies who have died dismembered by the bombs” in Gaza. De la Espriella has struck a different tone, writing on social media that Colombia “will restore and strengthen its relationship with the State of Israel like never before.”
Under the first stage of his new plan, de la Espriella will close embassies in Algeria, Azerbaijan, Barbados, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Ghana, Haiti, Hungary, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Romania, Senegal, and South Africa. The country will also consolidate certain national embassies and diplomatic missions, such as its embassy in France and its mission to UNESCO in Paris.
“I want to be very clear: These decisions do not mean breaking diplomatic relations with those countries, and much less with those multilateral organizations, except with Cuba and Nicaragua,” de la Espriella added, referring to two major U.S. foes in the Western Hemisphere.
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De la Espriella holds both U.S. and Colombian citizenship. The president-elect, who has never held political office, is a member of the U.S. Republican Party and a vocal Trump supporter.
“Abelardo fights tirelessly for, and loves, his Great Country and People, just like I do for the United States of America,” Trump wrote in a June endorsement on Truth Social.
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