Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced on Saturday the suspension of coal exports from his country to Israel as long as the war in the Gaza Strip continues.
“We will suspend coal exports to Israel until it stops the genocide,” wrote the leftist leader on the social network X.
In May, Petro had announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Israel, labeling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government as “genocidal” in its conduct of the war in the Gaza Strip. He also halted the purchase of weapons manufactured by Israel, which is one of the main suppliers to the South American country’s security forces.
A decree from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry specifies that the suspension of coal exports will apply “until the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice within the framework of the implementation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip are fully respected.”
According to the Colombian government, the measure will take effect five days after its publication in the official journal and will not affect goods for which transportation authorization requests have already been made.
Elected in 2022 as Colombia’s first left-wing president, Petro has repeatedly criticized Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip following the unprecedented attacks by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in southern Israeli territory on October 7.