Colombia lifts coal export ban on Israel imposed over Gaza genocide
Colombia’s new right-wing government has authorised coal exports to Israel, overturning an embargo imposed by former President Gustavo Petro to prevent Colombian resources from fuelling Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Trade Minister Mauricio Gomez Amin announced the decision on Friday in a video alongside President Abelardo de la Espriella, who held up the document.
“We have the decree that authorises the export of coal,” Gomez Amin said.
The government has not published the decree’s number, its date of publication in the Official Gazette or the conditions exporters must meet. It also remains unclear when shipments will resume.
Petro severed diplomatic relations with Israel in May 2024 over its assault on Gaza. His government restricted thermal coal exports in August that year.
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In August 2025, he eliminated exemptions for existing contracts and imposed a total embargo.
The measure was intended to remain in force until Israel complied with provisional measures issued by the International Court of Justice to withdraw from Gaza and Rafah in particular.
Since then, Israel has totally destroyed the Palestinian city.
Before the restrictions, Colombia was Israel’s largest coal supplier. It provided 60 percent of Israel’s thermal coal imports during the first part of 2024, S&P Global data showed.
Gomez Amin dismissed the embargo as a product of Petro’s ideology. De la Espriella had promised during his election campaign that relations with Israel would become “like never before”.
“We’ve only been in government for 15 days,” De la Espriella said as he highlighted the speed of the reversal.
The coal decision forms part of a sweeping pro-Israel shift since De la Espriella took office on 7 August. His government has restored diplomatic relations, recognised Israeli sovereignty over Syria’s occupied Golan Heights and announced plans to move Colombia’s embassy from Tel Aviv to occupied Jerusalem.
The reversal restores a major fuel supply to Israel and replaces Petro’s attempt to use Colombia’s trade leverage against the genocide with an accelerated economic and diplomatic embrace of the Israeli government.
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