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Gustavo Petro

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, right, meets with Colombia’s incoming president Abelardo de la Espriella at the latter's office in Barranquilla on August 6, 2026, a day before de la Espriella's inauguration. (Lodis Studios)
August 8, 2026, 6:52 am
New Colombian president, who has pledged to restore ties with Israel, takes office
Abelardo de la Espriella meets with Gideon Sa’ar, who thanks him for vow to move embassy to Jerusalem; inauguration held in Cali to signal harder line against illegal armed groups
Colombia's incoming foreign minister Omar Bola Escobar (left) meets with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar in Washington on July 14, 2026. (Shmulik Almany/Foreign Ministry)
August 5, 2026, 3:18 pm
Sa’ar heads to Colombia, Ecuador as Israel warms ties with Latin America’s right
Foreign minister to attend inauguration of pro-Israel Colombian president, who has vowed to renew strategic alliance, open embassy in Jerusalem after predecessor cut ties over Gaza
By Lazar Berman
Colombia's president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella speaks to supporters from behind bullet-proof glass following the preliminary results of the presidential runoff election in Barranquilla, Colombia, on June 21, 2026. (Jaime SALDARRIAGA / AFP)
June 24, 2026, 11:45 pm
Colombia’s president-elect vows to work with Israel ‘like never before’
Trump-backed De la Espriella says he’ll reverse outgoing Petro’s anti-Israel policies, push Bogota closer to Washington and Jerusalem; Sa’ar congratulates ‘true friend’
By AFP and ToI Staff
Then-presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella of the opposition Defenders of the Motherland movement arrives to vote with his family during the runoff election in Barranquilla, Colombia, June 21, 2026. (AP/Ivan Valencia)
June 22, 2026, 5:32 am
Pro-Israel candidate holds razor-thin lead in Colombia’s election; rival challenges vote
Pro-Trump Abelardo de la Espriella leads progressive Iván Cepeda in election focused on rising crime; right-wing candidate has pledged to renew Israel ties broken by outgoing president
By regina garcia cano and ASTRID SUAREZ
Colombia's President Gustavo Petro speaks during a military ceremony in Bogota, Colombia, June 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
June 10, 2026, 6:50 am
Colombia’s outgoing president under fire over ‘Heil Hitler’ tweet
Gustavo Petro defends his use of Nazi slogan in response to op-ed endorsing right-wing candidate, claiming it included ‘fascist phrases’
By Grace Gilson
This combination of pictures created on May 14, 2026, shows (L-R) Colombia's presidential candidate from the ruling party Pacto Historico, Ivan Cepeda, delivering a speech during a May Day rally marking International Workers Day in Bogota on May 1, 2026; Colombia's presidential candidate Paloma Valencia, of the Centro Democratico party, speaking during a campaign rally in Rionegro, Antioquia department, Colombia on April 13, 2026; and Colombian presidential candidate for the Defensores de la Patria political movement, Abelardo de la Espriella, gesturing during a campaign rally in Medellin, Colombia on January 28, 2026. (Raul ARBOLEDA and Jaime SALDARRIAGA / AFP)
May 31, 2026, 6:49 am
Colombians head to the polls, with 2 pro-Israel candidates challenging anti-Israel leftist
Frontrunner Cepeda has vowed to continue path of incumbent Petro who cut ties with Jewish state; right-wingers De La Espriella and Valencia want to restore alliance
By Reuters and ToI Staff
US President Donald Trump (right) speaks to the press following US military actions in Venezuela, at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, on January 3, 2026. (Jim Watson/AFP); an image posted on US President Donald Trump's Truth Social account shows what he says is Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro onboard the USS Iwo Jima after the US military captured him on January 3, 2026. (Handout/US President Donald Trump's Truth Social account/AFP)
January 3, 2026, 9:50 pm
After Maduro’s capture, Trump says US going to ‘run’ Venezuela until orderly transition
President does not provide specifics, but says Washington is ‘not afraid of boots on the ground’; also tells Colombian president he should ‘watch his ass’
By Reuters and AFP
A worker assembles a Galil-GT assault rifle at the Colombian based military weapons manufacturer, Indumil, in Soacha, Colombia. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
September 30, 2025, 12:20 pm
Colombia produces first rifles to replace Israeli guns after cutting ties last year
Former military allies are in an escalating feud that has also roped in the US, which revoked Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s visa
By Agencies and ToI Staff
Colombian President Gustavo Petro speaks through a megaphone at an anti-Israel rally in New York, September 26, 2025. (Screen capture: MinCultura Colombia via X)
September 27, 2025, 4:31 pm
US revokes Colombian leader’s visa after he calls for global army to fight in Gaza
Gustavo Petro returns to Bogota, source says, after leftist president tells anti-Israel rally he’ll open enlistment for Colombians and calls on US troops to disobey Trump
By Cecilia Lazzaro Blasbalg, Agencies and ToI Staff
Senator Miguel Uribe looks on after the Senate voted against the government labor reform referendum promoted by Colombia's President Gustavo Petro in Bogota on May 14, 2025. (Raul ARBOLEDA / AFP)
June 8, 2025, 9:50 am
Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe ‘fighting for life’ after shooting
Right-wing challenger in critical condition after being gunned down in front of crowds at campaign event in Bogota; suspect, reportedly a minor, shot him in the head and knee
By Valentín DÌAZ and Andrew BEATTY
Rabbi Richard Gamboa Ben-Eleazar, Colombia's new director of religious affair, in a video posted to his Facebook page, on February 15, 2025. Gamboa has called Israel a 'Nazi state,' and calls Zionism 'heresy.' (Screenshot from Facebook via Richard Gamboa Ben-Eleazar)
April 10, 2025, 11:41 am
Colombia taps anti-Zionist, unrecognized ‘rabbi’ as director of religious affairs
He ‘cannot be entrusted with religious freedom of Jews,’ says one leader as Jewish community fumes over pick of online-ordained rabbi who calls Zionist Jews ‘Nazis’ and ‘apostates’
By Grace Gilson
Handout picture released by Colombian Air Force showing Kfir combat airplane from the Colombian Air Force and a F15 jet (L) of the US Air Force during a military exercise in Puerto Salgar, Colombia, on September 8, 2023. (Handout / Colombian Air Force / AFP)
April 4, 2025, 7:51 pm
Colombia, which cut ties with Israel, to replace aging Israeli fighter jets with Swedish
Bogota says maintaining Kfir aircraft too complicated after severing relations with Jerusalem last year, though previous governments had also planned to replace them
By AP and ToI Staff
Colombian President Gustavo Petro holds a picture showing a Palestinian state on Israel's territory, during a visit to the Thumama Medical Center in Doha, Qatar, February 14, 2025. (Screen capture: X/Gustavo Petro, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
February 16, 2025, 10:51 am
Colombia’s president poses with map of Israel replaced by Palestinian state
Gustavo Petro, who cut ties with Israel after accusing it of genocide, calls for release of Israeli-Colombian hostage as tribute to country’s ‘solidarity with Palestinians’
By ToI Staff
Colombia's President Gustavo Petro addresses the the Summit of the Future at the United Nations General Assembly, in New York, September 23, 2024. (Richard Drew/AP)
September 24, 2024, 8:56 am
Anti-money laundering group suspends Colombia after president’s Israeli spyware claims
Egmont Group says Gustavo Petro shared confidential information about previous government’s alleged purchase and use of Pegasus software
By AP and ToI Staff
A man holds his phone with NSO GROUP logo on a computer screen in the background, in Jerusalem, on February 7, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
September 5, 2024, 9:01 pm
Colombia opens probe into police’s alleged purchase, illegal use of Israeli spyware
President Petro claims law enforcers used cash to buy NSO Group’s Pegasus software under previous government, used it to spy on political leaders and activists
By Agencies
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