Colombia lifts the coal embargo it imposed on Israel over Gaza

Colombia's new right-wing government has authorised coal exports to Israel, overturning the embargo that former President Gustavo Petro imposed to stop Colombian resources from fuelling Israel's war on Gaza.

It fell to the trade minister, Mauricio Gomez Amin, to make that public on Friday. He did so on camera, standing beside President Abelardo de la Espriella as the president held the document up. "We have the decree that authorises the export of coal," the minister said.

What the announcement did not include was the detail that would make it checkable. The government has not published the decree's number, nor the date of its publication in the Official Gazette, nor the conditions exporters will have to meet, and it has not said when shipments are expected to resume.

Petro severed diplomatic relations with Israel in May 2024 over its assault on Gaza, and his government restricted thermal coal exports in August of that year.

The reversal is a reminder of how long measures of this kind last. The restriction was an act of an administration rather than a law passed by a legislature, and it has been undone by another act of an administration less than two years later — announced in a video, with the text of the decree still unpublished. A trade restriction imposed that way survives exactly as long as the government that signs it.