Colombia’s Petro – From Liberation at Home to Solidarity with Gaza

Petro of Colombo - From Liberaton at home to solidarity with Gaza.

By Dr Ranjan Solomon

“When conscience challenges the empire, punishment is inevitable. Petro’s defiance is not rebellion – it is moral clarity.”

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has become one of the most principled moral voices of our time. His defiance of U.S. hegemony, his insistence on justice for Gaza, and his transformation of Colombia from a battlefield to a peace project have placed him in a league of leaders who speak truth to power at immense personal and political cost.

Petro is not merely a politician; he is a visionary who dares to redefine statecraft around human dignity. In an age when most leaders shrink from confronting global injustice, Petro has chosen the harder path — one rooted in ethics, memory, and solidarity.

Liberation at Home

Before the world came to know him as a defender of Gaza, Petro had already earned his place in history by redefining Colombia’s national priorities. A former guerrilla turned democrat, he understood from experience that peace cannot be built by bullets. His government’s Total Peace policy seeks to end decades of internal conflict through dialogue, social investment, and land reform — shifting the logic of power from repression to reconciliation.

Where previous governments allowed U.S.-imposed anti-drug militarisation to devastate rural livelihoods, Petro took a revolutionary step: replacing the “war on drugs” with community-led crop substitution and rural rehabilitation. His model treats farmers not as criminals but as citizens deserving of justice.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) acknowledged that under Petro, Colombia has achieved significant reductions in coca cultivation and violence linked to trafficking. His anti-drug policy reclaims sovereignty from U.S. control and restores dignity to peasants long trapped in poverty and criminalisation.

Petro’s Colombia is turning away from dependency — not only on drugs, but on foreign dictates. His domestic reforms, from education and labour rights to ecological sustainability, are built around one conviction: a nation liberated from fear must also liberate others.

Solidarity with Gaza

When the bombs began falling on Gaza, Petro did not speak as a politician calculating risk; he spoke as a human being responding to atrocity. His words — sharp, moral, and uncompromising — shattered the silence of global diplomacy.

“The world cannot remain silent while a genocide unfolds before its eyes,” he declared. “If we must choose between relations with genocide and relations with humanity, we choose humanity.”

True to that conviction, Colombia under Petro became the first major Latin American country to sever diplomatic ties with Israel in May 2024. He denounced the massacre in Gaza as a crime against humanity, invoking the world’s duty to stand with the oppressed.

Petro’s solidarity with Palestine is no political gesture. It springs from his lifelong commitment to liberation — the belief that no nation can be free while others are enslaved. His empathy for Gaza mirrors Colombia’s own journey from violence to peace. Both stories speak of occupied lives yearning for justice, both reveal the brutality of power and the persistence of hope.

U.S. Retaliation and the Sanctioning of Conscience

Such moral courage comes at a price. In September 2025, the United States revoked Petro’s visa after he joined a pro-Palestinian demonstration in New York, accusing him of making “reckless and incendiary” remarks. A month later, Washington imposed sanctions on Petro, his family, and members of his government, citing alleged failures in anti-drug efforts — a charge that rings hollow against the backdrop of his evident success.

It is difficult to ignore the pattern: whenever a Global South leader stands up for Palestine or challenges U.S. orthodoxy, punishment follows. From Cuba to Venezuela, from Bolivia to Colombia, Washington continues to weaponize finance and diplomacy against independent states.

Petro’s “crime” was not incitement, but integrity. He defied the empire in defence of humanity. His punishment reveals more about U.S. insecurity than about Colombia’s policies.

The same nation that once dictated Colombia’s drug war now seeks to silence the man who redefined it – and who dared to call Gaza what it is: genocide.

The Meaning of Petro

Petro represents the moral reawakening of the Global South. His politics link the struggles of the poor in Latin America with the dispossessed in Palestine, Africa, and Asia. He reminds us that liberation is indivisible: social justice at home must be tied to solidarity abroad.

Civil society organisations across continents have recognised this courage. Many have nominated him for international honours, including the Right Livelihood Award — the “Alternative Nobel” — and supported his Nobel Peace Prize candidacy. They see in him a rare kind of leadership: intellectual, humble, and guided by conscience.

In Petro, Latin America’s historic call for dignity finds a contemporary voice. He stands in the lineage of Bolívar and Allende, of Fidel and Chávez, but speaks in the language of the 21st century — ecological, inclusive, and humane.

At a time when Western democracies have surrendered moral authority to militarism, Petro’s defiance restores the idea that politics can still serve truth. His vision offers a counterweight to cynicism: a reminder that states can be instruments of compassion rather than cruelty.

Conclusion

Gustavo Petro has shown that leadership is not measured by the applause of the powerful, but by fidelity to the powerless. His decision to stand with Gaza, despite the consequences, is an act of global conscience.

If the United States punishes him, history will absolve him. Petro is not merely defending Palestine; he is defending the idea of a humane world order — one that places human life above empire.

As Colombia heals its own wounds, Petro extends that healing to others, proving that liberation begins at home but never ends there.

“If we must choose between relations with genocide and relations with humanity, we choose humanity.”

(President Gustavo Petro, May 2024)

References

1. Reuters: “US revokes Colombian President Petro’s visa after Gaza remarks,” September 2025.

2. Al Jazeera: “Colombia cuts diplomatic ties with Israel over Gaza war,” May 2024.

3. El País: “Petro hosts Hague Group summit on Gaza legal response,” July 2025.

4. Euronews: “Washington calls Petro’s Gaza remarks ‘reckless,’” September 2025.

5. UNODC: “Coca cultivation trends in Colombia show first major decline in years,” 2025.

6. AP News: “US sanctions on Colombia’s president escalate feud,” October 2025.

Ranjan Solomon is a political commentator with a special interest in the Question of Palestine -20 November 2025. - Source: countercurrents.org