Bolivia expelled Colombia’s ambassador in La Paz because of the comments made by President Gustavo Petro regarding the situation being experienced by Bolivia. So that country’s government decided to expel and declare persona non grata Colombia’s ambassador in La Paz, Elizabeth Garcia Carrillo. With a little more than two months remaining in his administration, the Colombian president adds one more country to the list of nations with which he has strained relations.
In Bolivia, for the past three weeks, sectors made up of followers of former president Evo Morales have been demanding the resignation of current president Rodrigo Paz. The protests reached one of their highest points last Monday with looting at the Departmental Court of Justice (TDJ) and destruction of the transportation system.
Morales remains a fugitive from justice, since Bolivia’s prosecutor’s office requested a 20-year prison sentence against him for the crime of aggravated human trafficking. That agency accuses him of having maintained a relationship with an underage girl while he was still serving as president.
Bolivia expelled Colombia’s ambassador in La Paz after Gustavo Petro’s comments
President Petro stated that Bolivia “is experiencing a popular insurrection,” and maintained that the demonstrations demanding Paz’s resignation are “the response to geopolitical arrogance. Latin America is a diverse and different civilization; it cannot be homogenized from any corner of the planet. Latin America and the Caribbean must make themselves heard by the world, looking forward in peace and speaking frankly.”
He also offered his government to “seek peaceful formulas to resolve the Bolivian political crisis.” But the Bolivian government did not read the message that way. On the contrary, it understood it as interference by the Colombian president in Bolivia’s internal affairs and acted accordingly.
Bolivian Foreign Minister Fernando Aramayo responded that Petro’s statements “do not reflect the relationship of friendship, respect, and cooperation between the peoples of Bolivia and Colombia, nor the profound historical ties that unite both States.” He later warned that “Bolivia considers inappropriate any external interpretation or characterization that distorts the nature of current events or that contributes to deepening the confrontation among Bolivians.”
He also underlined that the challenges his country faces must be resolved “within the framework of constitutional order, respect for democratic institutions, and through dialogue mechanisms,” and that this corresponds “exclusively to the Bolivian people.”
Afterward, he announced the expulsion of Ambassador Garcia Carrillo, an Indigenous woman descended from the Arhuaco and Kankuamo peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta who had held the diplomatic post since November 30, 2022.
Gustavo Petro’s conflicts with other countries
This same Wednesday, in statements to Caracol Radio, President Petro said: “What we know up to this moment is that there are people in the streets being repressed, and a government that is being questioned by those people. That Government can make the decision to unleash violence against the mobilized population, as happened in Colombia in the past, or it can open a dialogue, which is what I consider necessary.”
The situation between the governments of Colombia and Bolivia adds to other conflicts in the region. President Petro made comments in defense of former Ecuadorian vice president Jorge Glas, who has been convicted of corruption, and Ecuadorian president Daniel Noboa responded by imposing tariffs on Colombian products, which triggered a tariff war between the two countries.
With the United States, President Petro unleashed a first diplomatic crisis when he rejected the arrival of airplanes carrying Colombians deported under that country’s mass repatriation policy. Donald Trump imposed economic sanctions, threatened tariffs between 25% and 50%, and suspended visa procedures.
Later, in New York, the Colombian president, during a pro-Palestinian protest outside United Nations headquarters, urged U.S. soldiers to “disobey Trump’s orders and obey the orders of humanity.” Later came reactions such as the decertification of Colombia in anti-narcotics efforts and the inclusion of Petro and two of his relatives on the ominous Clinton list.
With Israel, finally, the Colombian president did break relations, arguing that that country was killing children in its bombings in Gaza.