© Gabriel Aponte / Getty ImagesColombian President Gustavo Petro
Colombia, a traditional US ally in South America, became the first country in the region to obtain the status of NATO global partner in 2017. Petro, who took office in 2022 as Colombia's first leftist president, severed diplomatic relations with Israel last year over what he describes as a genocide being carried out by the Israeli government against Palestinians.
"What do we do in NATO? If NATO's top brass are for genocide, what are we doing there?" Petro said at a pro-Palestinian international conference in Bogota on Wednesday.
"Hasn't the time come for another military alliance? Because how can we be with armies that drop bombs on children?" he added. "Those armies aren't armies of freedom, they're armies of darkness. We must have armies of light."
Petro argued that NATO is a Cold War relic and asserted that nations like Colombia are treated as "half-members" within the US-led military bloc, granted symbolic partnerships but not full accession.
The two-day conference in Bogota hosted representatives from a dozen countries in the Global South. Attendees signed a joint declaration calling for economic sanctions and legal actions against Israel, including an arms embargo, restrictions on dual-use goods, port denials for vessels carrying cargo for Israeli forces, and support for international accountability for crimes allegedly committed in occupied territories.
Petro's criticism reflects a break from Colombia's historically warm relationship with Israel. The late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez once dubbed Colombia the "Israel of Latin America," arguing it served a similar geopolitical role in the region.
Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza following a deadly raid led by the militant group Hamas in October 2023. The first independent study of casualties in Gaza, published last month, estimated the number of fatalities in the enclave at almost 84,000 by January 2025. Israel is currently pushing Palestinians to move to a "humanitarian city" that would purportedly be free of Hamas influence - which critics say is just a euphemism for a concentration camp.
Reader Comments
comfortsmass anesthitics.Central control is a dead end road is the take home message locally. And the beauty of that is twofold.
1. Tis natural.
2. Tis self fulfilling - in a natural way. The way humans have been way longer than central control bs.
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Now in the recent "little ice age" there were moments when some humans about 20000 years ago wondered - should I abide the leader - and imagine being alive back then - that was not an easy thought to render - but nowadays tis overwhelming obvious - the answer is NO.
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central control tis a losing proposition - always has been and always will be....so wake up and go local.
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So really - ditch your smart phone and smell the roses - a time of beauty is upon us - and it will be local communities at the forefront - and central control will lose all authority - imagine that Mutual way of living - Kropotkin already did in the 19th century upon witnessing behavior of animals and studying early human assemblies. And Schumacher - Small is Beautiful expanded upon the idea of it - and truly it dismisses the so-called elitist who evidently have been nothing but harm pushers - so make a choice.
Forest walkers know already - but free will is the freedom to choose - so make a choice.
I've made mine - I'm going local - I give no heed to the news going forward global - I have no effect upon that - but locally I can have impact - and I got some birds fixing to lay eggs - a garden well tended if not behind - and there is something of joy in that versus getting caught up in global bs worthless versus just trying to make a difference small-scale.
Tis a no-brainer for somebody chooses to walk the forest path.
Now - I share some info from the "Brave ai" - that evidently is not aware of Jungers work regarding the Forest Walker - cause read this and scoff at it - it misses the whole origin of the concept that Junger spoke of in his work discussed here at sott.net - and I got that book - a hard copy sitting on the toilet for easy reading in the morning:
This is what the "brave ai" ain't that smart in my book says - some of it makes sense - but it misses the whole point - tis full of bias programmed no doubt. What and why the hell you talking bout hikes in Ireland and England - is that bias in programming? I mean sure there are trails there - but there are trails everywhere - so why that show up in your ai response brave ai? - and really the Forrest Passage is what I was referring to - and you missed that completely in your ai programmed bias - so get a clue. And for Christ's sake don't try to speak of some "game" where characters navigate - get to the heart of the matter will you.
Get the actual book and read it close:
[Link]
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Bottom line is the leader in Columbia has courage locally and that can be contagious.
He’ll probably be dead soon.