![\"\"](\"https:\/\/elturbion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-07-08-at-10.40.04-PM.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/a>Of Coal and Genocides in Colombia and Palestine<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"Glencore's](\"https:\/\/elturbion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/glencore_executives-andres_gomez-1024x461.jpg\")
<\/a>Glencore’s board of directors. Photo: Andr\u00e9s G\u00f3mez<\/sub><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nColombian thermal coal is highly efficient for thermoelectric energy production, and Colombia\u2019s output makes it a key global player. In many countries, coal from Colombia\u2019s Caribbean region is converted into electricity. However, this coal has come at the cost of exterminating Wayuu and Yukpa Indigenous peoples, as well as Afro-Colombian communities like Tabaco, who resisted colonial slavery but could not survive open pit coal mining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
El Turbi\u00f3n<\/em> has reported, through the voices of Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities in Cesar and La Guajira, how mining by companies like Glencore threatens their existence and has devoured the tropical dry forest and poisoned the region\u2019s water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n![\"Vista](\"https:\/\/elturbion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/vegetal-marce-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/a>The Cesar-La Guajira mining corridor has endured four decades of environmental devastation due to coal extraction.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Vertimientos](\"https:\/\/elturbion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Marce-vertimientos04_1-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/a>Mine bottom water discharges<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those investing in these companies through pension funds or stock ownership are financing crimes of genocide and ecocide. One of the countries backing its retirees\u2019 future at the cost of crimes against humanity in Colombia is Canada, with two pension funds involved: the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Ontario Teachers\u2019 Pension Plan. Another is the United Kingdom, via J.P. Morgan Asset Management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other contributors to the extermination of ancestral peoples in Colombia are the countries that buy Colombian thermal coal. Among the top 10 buyers is Israel, which alone imported 3 million tons in 2023\u20145.4% of Colombia\u2019s total thermal coal exports that year.Top 10 Buyers of Colombian Thermal Coal:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n- South Korea<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- China<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Turkey<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Netherlands<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Poland<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Mexico<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Chile<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Israel<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Brazil<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Japan<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
The environmental and human rights costs of Colombian coal are well known in Colombia and Europe. It\u2019s unlikely that Israel is unaware, given its relations with the Colombian state and its dependence on this resource.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israel has also been involved in Colombia\u2019s paramilitary history. In the 1980s, Israeli ex-commander and death instructor Yair Klein trained 30 assassins for paramilitaries in Puerto Boyac\u00e1 during \u00c1lvaro Uribe V\u00e9lez\u2019s governance. Today, he is protected by Israel from extradition to Colombia. In the defense sector, Israel has authorized Colombia to manufacture and assemble Galil rifles and sold over 20 Kfir jets in the 1990s. More recently, under President Iv\u00e1n Duque, Israel\u2019s NSO Group sold Colombia the Pegasus surveillance software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regarding Israel\u2019s dependence on Colombian coal, S&P Global Commodities at Sea reported that in 2024, Israel imported 1.4 million metric tons of thermal coal\u2014855,700 of which (60%) came from Colombia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to OpenInfraMap, Israel has 199 power plants generating 18,128 MW. Of these, three coal-fired power plants produce 4,895 MW combined. That means thermal coal represents 27% of Israel\u2019s energy generation, and 60% of that coal comes from Colombia\u2014making 16.2% of Israel\u2019s electricity dependent on Colombian coal. This energy fuels both civilian needs and its military industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Defense companies like Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), and Elbit Systems rely on robust, stable, and inexpensive energy infrastructure to manufacture the weapons used in Israel\u2019s extermination campaign in Palestine and its ongoing war with Iran, which escalated after the U.S. bombed three Iranian nuclear facilities\u2014Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan\u2014on June 21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Half-Broken Ties<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/elturbion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-07-08-at-10.40.18-PM.jpeg\")
<\/a>Ships carrying Colombian coal bound for Israel \u2013 data visualization: Jalver Uyaban<\/sub><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nDespite the President’s stated political commitment to Palestine, ships like the Ashkelon<\/em> and Navios Felix<\/em> left Colombia for Israel carrying coal after the embargo was announced. The defense sector is no different.<\/p>\n\n\n\nColombia signed contracts in late 2024 that remain in effect, showing how dependent Colombia\u2019s military security is on Israel\u2014complicating any \u201ccutting\u201d of ties with the Zionist regime. One example is the outdated Kfir aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Colombian Air Force (FAC) maintains contract 260-00-A-COFAC-CODAF-2024 with Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd., signed on December 12, 2024, and valid until July 30, 2026. Worth COP $32.7 billion, the direct contract covers \u201cscheduled (routine) and unscheduled (non-routine) maintenance services for FAC\u2019s Kfir aircraft.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to then-Minister of Defense Iv\u00e1n Vel\u00e1squez, the contract was the result of longstanding commitments with Israel. He announced that contracts with Israel would end when Petro\u2019s term ended\u2014something that began with the purchase of Swedish Saab 39 Gripen fighter jets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It remains unclear what will happen with contracts and licenses to produce and\/or use Jericho pistols, X95 rifles, Negev NG7 machine guns, Nimrod and Spike anti-tank missiles, Atmos self-propelled artillery systems, M-462 military vehicles, Eagle Eye anti-aircraft batteries, AH-60 helicopters, and Hermes drones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s most concerning is that purchases from Israel continue, and the military embargo is not being enforced. This strengthens Israel\u2019s military industry and increases surveillance and repression in Colombia. As the BDS Colombia movement revealed, the National Police\u2019s Criminal Investigation Directorate (Dijin) signed a 2025 contract with Elbit Systems worth 9 billion pesos for \u201cmaintenance of the Target 360 communications interception platform.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dependencies and Hypocrisies<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nIsrael\u2019s influence over Colombia\u2019s defense has made severing ties difficult\u2014not due to lack of political will from President Petro, which cannot be said for other nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
European diplomacy, especially that of Germany, struggles to separate itself from the historical guilt of the Jewish genocide in Europe. That guilt has enabled the current genocide in Palestine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Germany was one of Israel\u2019s main arms suppliers, accounting for 30% of Israeli imports between 2019 and 2023. Only recently did it take partial action against the Gaza genocide: in May 2025, Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized Israel\u2019s offensive on hospitals and starving civilians and suspended arms exports, dropping from \u20ac326.5 million in 2023 to \u20ac14.5 million. Yet Merz also backed Israel\u2019s war on Iran, saying Israel was doing the \u201cdirty work\u201d that the U.S. and Europe should be doing against the Ayatollah\u2014maintaining geopolitical alignment with Israel as an aggressor and Middle East destabilizer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spain also supplies weapons to Israel, albeit in smaller and non-crucial quantities, yet profited from the massacre of civilians by exporting over \u20ac18 million in military equipment to the Zionist regime since 2023. In 2023, Amnesty International called on Spain to permanently halt arms sales to Israel. Only in late May 2025 did Foreign Minister Jos\u00e9 Manuel Albares and Defense Minister Margarita Robles announce they would seek an arms embargo on Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The UK, instrumental in Israel\u2019s 1947 creation, has been lukewarm in condemning the Palestinian genocide. Its only tangible action was to announce renegotiation of its trade agreement with Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All these countries, by selling weapons to Israel and using euphemisms to describe the genocide it perpetrates, have been complicit in 20 months of extermination. According to Gaza\u2019s Health Ministry, over 17,000 children have been killed\u2014more than 30% of the over 50,000 total fatalities caused by Israel. Meanwhile, Netanyahu\u2019s Zionist government has imposed an unprecedented famine on the Palestinian people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though Western leaders have enabled genocide by failing to block arms sales to Israel, their populations have not remained indifferent. On June 7, 300,000 people marched in Rome and 100,000 in Stockholm in support of Palestine. Unions have also acted: on November 9, 2023, port workers in Italy, Greece, and Turkey announced they would boycott loading and unloading weapons bound for Israel. In Marseille, France, on June 5, port workers refused to load a container with assault rifle parts for Israel in solidarity with Palestine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Colombia, leftist mobilizations support Palestine and condemn the genocide. Although President Petro calls on Latin America to cut trade ties with Israel, he must narrow the gap between words and action to fulfill Colombia\u2019s promise to Palestine of a genuine energy and arms embargo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nYour support strengthens independent and trustworthy journalism.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/elturbion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/image-11.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIn recognition of El Turbi\u00f3n<\/em>‘s commitment to integrity and journalistic excellence, the outlet has been awarded the Certification of the Trustworthy Journalism Initiative, promoted by Reporters Without Borders under the international standard CEN CWA 17493:2019.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\nInvestigating and producing independent journalism is costly\u2026 Support us..
<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/elturbion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/image-3.png\")
<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On May 20, 2025, the United Kingdom announced it would suspend its Free Trade Agreement with Israel and negotiate a new one. The next day, the President of Colombia praised the British people, writing: \u201cI congratulate the UK for its dignified decision against genocide. Now Colombia invites all of Latin America to denounce free trade […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,83,37],"tags":[664,1226,1632,1930],"class_list":["post-21245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ddhh","category-la-guajira","category-ambiente","tag-cerrejon-2","tag-drummond","tag-gaza","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elturbion.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elturbion.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elturbion.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elturbion.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elturbion.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/elturbion.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21245\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elturbion.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elturbion.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elturbion.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/a>Colombian thermal coal is highly efficient for thermoelectric energy production, and Colombia\u2019s output makes it a key global player. In many countries, coal from Colombia\u2019s Caribbean region is converted into electricity. However, this coal has come at the cost of exterminating Wayuu and Yukpa Indigenous peoples, as well as Afro-Colombian communities like Tabaco, who resisted colonial slavery but could not survive open pit coal mining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
El Turbi\u00f3n<\/em> has reported, through the voices of Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities in Cesar and La Guajira, how mining by companies like Glencore threatens their existence and has devoured the tropical dry forest and poisoned the region\u2019s water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Those investing in these companies through pension funds or stock ownership are financing crimes of genocide and ecocide. One of the countries backing its retirees\u2019 future at the cost of crimes against humanity in Colombia is Canada, with two pension funds involved: the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Ontario Teachers\u2019 Pension Plan. Another is the United Kingdom, via J.P. Morgan Asset Management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other contributors to the extermination of ancestral peoples in Colombia are the countries that buy Colombian thermal coal. Among the top 10 buyers is Israel, which alone imported 3 million tons in 2023\u20145.4% of Colombia\u2019s total thermal coal exports that year.Top 10 Buyers of Colombian Thermal Coal:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The environmental and human rights costs of Colombian coal are well known in Colombia and Europe. It\u2019s unlikely that Israel is unaware, given its relations with the Colombian state and its dependence on this resource.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Israel has also been involved in Colombia\u2019s paramilitary history. In the 1980s, Israeli ex-commander and death instructor Yair Klein trained 30 assassins for paramilitaries in Puerto Boyac\u00e1 during \u00c1lvaro Uribe V\u00e9lez\u2019s governance. Today, he is protected by Israel from extradition to Colombia. In the defense sector, Israel has authorized Colombia to manufacture and assemble Galil rifles and sold over 20 Kfir jets in the 1990s. More recently, under President Iv\u00e1n Duque, Israel\u2019s NSO Group sold Colombia the Pegasus surveillance software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regarding Israel\u2019s dependence on Colombian coal, S&P Global Commodities at Sea reported that in 2024, Israel imported 1.4 million metric tons of thermal coal\u2014855,700 of which (60%) came from Colombia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to OpenInfraMap, Israel has 199 power plants generating 18,128 MW. Of these, three coal-fired power plants produce 4,895 MW combined. That means thermal coal represents 27% of Israel\u2019s energy generation, and 60% of that coal comes from Colombia\u2014making 16.2% of Israel\u2019s electricity dependent on Colombian coal. This energy fuels both civilian needs and its military industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Defense companies like Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), and Elbit Systems rely on robust, stable, and inexpensive energy infrastructure to manufacture the weapons used in Israel\u2019s extermination campaign in Palestine and its ongoing war with Iran, which escalated after the U.S. bombed three Iranian nuclear facilities\u2014Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan\u2014on June 21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the President’s stated political commitment to Palestine, ships like the Ashkelon<\/em> and Navios Felix<\/em> left Colombia for Israel carrying coal after the embargo was announced. The defense sector is no different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Colombia signed contracts in late 2024 that remain in effect, showing how dependent Colombia\u2019s military security is on Israel\u2014complicating any \u201ccutting\u201d of ties with the Zionist regime. One example is the outdated Kfir aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Colombian Air Force (FAC) maintains contract 260-00-A-COFAC-CODAF-2024 with Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd., signed on December 12, 2024, and valid until July 30, 2026. Worth COP $32.7 billion, the direct contract covers \u201cscheduled (routine) and unscheduled (non-routine) maintenance services for FAC\u2019s Kfir aircraft.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to then-Minister of Defense Iv\u00e1n Vel\u00e1squez, the contract was the result of longstanding commitments with Israel. He announced that contracts with Israel would end when Petro\u2019s term ended\u2014something that began with the purchase of Swedish Saab 39 Gripen fighter jets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It remains unclear what will happen with contracts and licenses to produce and\/or use Jericho pistols, X95 rifles, Negev NG7 machine guns, Nimrod and Spike anti-tank missiles, Atmos self-propelled artillery systems, M-462 military vehicles, Eagle Eye anti-aircraft batteries, AH-60 helicopters, and Hermes drones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s most concerning is that purchases from Israel continue, and the military embargo is not being enforced. This strengthens Israel\u2019s military industry and increases surveillance and repression in Colombia. As the BDS Colombia movement revealed, the National Police\u2019s Criminal Investigation Directorate (Dijin) signed a 2025 contract with Elbit Systems worth 9 billion pesos for \u201cmaintenance of the Target 360 communications interception platform.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Israel\u2019s influence over Colombia\u2019s defense has made severing ties difficult\u2014not due to lack of political will from President Petro, which cannot be said for other nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n European diplomacy, especially that of Germany, struggles to separate itself from the historical guilt of the Jewish genocide in Europe. That guilt has enabled the current genocide in Palestine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Germany was one of Israel\u2019s main arms suppliers, accounting for 30% of Israeli imports between 2019 and 2023. Only recently did it take partial action against the Gaza genocide: in May 2025, Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized Israel\u2019s offensive on hospitals and starving civilians and suspended arms exports, dropping from \u20ac326.5 million in 2023 to \u20ac14.5 million. Yet Merz also backed Israel\u2019s war on Iran, saying Israel was doing the \u201cdirty work\u201d that the U.S. and Europe should be doing against the Ayatollah\u2014maintaining geopolitical alignment with Israel as an aggressor and Middle East destabilizer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spain also supplies weapons to Israel, albeit in smaller and non-crucial quantities, yet profited from the massacre of civilians by exporting over \u20ac18 million in military equipment to the Zionist regime since 2023. In 2023, Amnesty International called on Spain to permanently halt arms sales to Israel. Only in late May 2025 did Foreign Minister Jos\u00e9 Manuel Albares and Defense Minister Margarita Robles announce they would seek an arms embargo on Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The UK, instrumental in Israel\u2019s 1947 creation, has been lukewarm in condemning the Palestinian genocide. Its only tangible action was to announce renegotiation of its trade agreement with Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All these countries, by selling weapons to Israel and using euphemisms to describe the genocide it perpetrates, have been complicit in 20 months of extermination. According to Gaza\u2019s Health Ministry, over 17,000 children have been killed\u2014more than 30% of the over 50,000 total fatalities caused by Israel. Meanwhile, Netanyahu\u2019s Zionist government has imposed an unprecedented famine on the Palestinian people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though Western leaders have enabled genocide by failing to block arms sales to Israel, their populations have not remained indifferent. On June 7, 300,000 people marched in Rome and 100,000 in Stockholm in support of Palestine. Unions have also acted: on November 9, 2023, port workers in Italy, Greece, and Turkey announced they would boycott loading and unloading weapons bound for Israel. In Marseille, France, on June 5, port workers refused to load a container with assault rifle parts for Israel in solidarity with Palestine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Colombia, leftist mobilizations support Palestine and condemn the genocide. Although President Petro calls on Latin America to cut trade ties with Israel, he must narrow the gap between words and action to fulfill Colombia\u2019s promise to Palestine of a genuine energy and arms embargo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In recognition of El Turbi\u00f3n<\/em>‘s commitment to integrity and journalistic excellence, the outlet has been awarded the Certification of the Trustworthy Journalism Initiative, promoted by Reporters Without Borders under the international standard CEN CWA 17493:2019.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Investigating and producing independent journalism is costly\u2026 Support us.. On May 20, 2025, the United Kingdom announced it would suspend its Free Trade Agreement with Israel and negotiate a new one. The next day, the President of Colombia praised the British people, writing: \u201cI congratulate the UK for its dignified decision against genocide. Now Colombia invites all of Latin America to denounce free trade […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,83,37],"tags":[664,1226,1632,1930],"class_list":["post-21245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ddhh","category-la-guajira","category-ambiente","tag-cerrejon-2","tag-drummond","tag-gaza","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elturbion.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elturbion.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elturbion.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elturbion.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elturbion.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/elturbion.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21245\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elturbion.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elturbion.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elturbion.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a>\n
Half-Broken Ties<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Dependencies and Hypocrisies<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nYour support strengthens independent and trustworthy journalism.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"