Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Sunday that his country had banned the export of coal to Israel because it was being used to make bombs that would kill children in the Gaza Strip. This came after his country issued a decree a few days ago banning the export of coal to Israel.
This came in a post he made on the X platform, in which he republished news from the local radio station “Blue Radio Colombia”, which included a picture of the decree dating back to August 14.
killing children
“With Colombian coal, they make bombs to kill Palestinian children,” Petro said in his post.
The radio reported in its news on its website that President Petro, Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo, and the Ministers of Finance, Mines and Trade signed Decree No. 1047 dated August 14, 2024.
She pointed out that according to the signed document, the decree will be implemented 5 days after its publication in the Official Gazette, and she expected it to enter into force next Thursday.
According to the radio, the decree signed by the president “bans the export of coal to Israel as a result of its brutal war (on Gaza) and the severing of Colombian diplomatic relations with it.”
Last June, Petro announced that Colombia would stop coal exports to Israel until it stopped the “genocide” against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
extermination
Last May, Petro announced the severing of diplomatic relations between Colombia and Israel, accusing the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of committing genocide against the Palestinians.
Petro stopped buying Israeli-made weapons, and Netanyahu accused him of being “anti-Semitic and a supporter of Hamas.”
It is noteworthy that according to the American Journal of Transportation, Israel relies on coal to generate 20% of its electrical energy.
Colombia is the largest supplier of coal to Israel, accounting for more than half of its imports, with exports estimated at $450 million last year, according to Bloomberg.
