On International Workers’ Day, Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s first left-wing president, announced that the country would sever diplomatic ties with Israel over its ongoing genocidal assault on Gaza. “Tomorrow we will break diplomatic relations with the state of Israel for having a government, for having a president who is genocidal. . . .  If Palestine dies, humanity dies,” Petro said.

Petro has been one of the foremost critics of Israel on the Left in Latin America. On October 16, Israel suspended arms shipments to Colombia after a diplomatic spat between Petro and Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Lior Haiat. In the dispute, Petro condemned Israel’s siege on and sanguinary bombardment of Gaza, as well as the involvement of Israeli mercenaries in the mass murder of members of the Patriotic Union (UP) party in Colombia. “Neither Yair Klein nor Rafael Eitan will be able to describe the history of peace in Colombia. They unleashed massacre and genocide in Colombia,” Petro tweeted.

The involvement of Mossad intelligence operative Rafael Eitan and Israeli lieutenant colonel Yair Klein in the mass extermination of the UP is a buried chapter of Colombian history. In the wake of the government’s unprecedented suspension of diplomatic ties with Israel, it’s a history worth revisiting.