Colombia Removed Visas for Israelis: 25 Days After De La Espriella’s Oath

Gustavo Petro stopped the relations with Israel in May 2024 over the ongoing genocide in Gaza. From September 1st, twenty-five days into Abelardo de la Espriella's presidency, Israelis enter Colombia without a visa. Israel's foreign ministry announced it on August 20, after Gideon Sa'ar spoke with Colombian foreign minister Omar Bula Escobar. Sa'ar had already made a couple of trips before to see De La Espriella in a sort of lobbyism with an effective outcome.

The Golan Heights came first. On August 10, three days after the theatrical presidential oath, Colombia recognized Israeli sovereignty over occupied Syrian territory, the second country on earth to do so after the United States under the first unpopular administration of Donald Trump. Damascus, Riyadh and Doha objected. San Carlos’ Palace in Bogota, the house of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, said that’s a security matter for Israel and the stability of the region, as if Colombia had a real stake there. In addition, De La Espriella promised to move the embassy to Jerusalem. More than a diplomatic maneuver and a well-thought-out endeavor, it’s clear an outlaw provocation to the international law system.

To put an example of Israel's tourist reputation, let’s travel to Hiriketiya, on Sri Lanka's south coast. A Chabad house opened on August 14. Around three hundred residents and Buddhist monks from two temples protested outside it. Stones and firecrackers went into the courtyard. Israelis were turned back from the gate. The Chabad owner asked Israel's foreign ministry and embassy to intervene.

Colombia has already seen what an organized Israeli operation on its coast looks like. Assi Moosh ran the Benjamin hostel in Taganga, known locally as the bunker that discriminated against Colombian tourists by hosting only international visitors. Migración Colombia expelled him in 2017 as a risk to public safety and social tranquility. Spanish police arrested him near Lisbon in 2019, and the Fiscalía wanted him for aggravated homicide, conspiracy, sex tourism, and inducing minors into prostitution. InSight Crime found his associates carried on without him. One man, with a name and a case file. The waiver is mutual: Colombians may now fly to Israel without a visa, but who’s going in a country where warfare is the welcome package? Colombia is not much different indeed, but the sizes of both nations tell that Israel’s territory is almost entirely under war.

Want to explore more visit, Samsara News!