Far-left President Gustavo Petro purged Colombia’s diplomatic staff in China reportedly claiming they “sabotaged” his administration’s outreach to the communist regime.
Petro made the announcement during a meeting on Monday evening with his cabinet ministers. He claimed that Colombia’s diplomatic staff in China are allegedly hindering bilateral relations between Colombia and China and are “modifying” official agendas without due authorization, instructing his Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio to fire the accused personnel.
“Because here we have a Foreign Ministry that is embarrassed to engage with China and sabotages relations. All those people have to go. I want relations with all the peoples of the world, not just one. That’s not relations with humanity, that’s colonialism,” Petro told Villavicencio.
“The change of embassy staff in China, which sabotages relations, they change their schedules, cancel appointments without us knowing,” he continued.
Petro, who cannot run for reelection in next year’s elections and is due to leave office in August 2026, made the announcement amid tensions with the United States, a country with which, for over 200 years, Colombia has maintained historically friendly relations.
During the same meeting, Petro once again urged the U.S. military to disobey President Donald Trump as commander-in-chief and called for Trump’s imprisonment for allegedly aiding “genocide” in Gaza. Last week, on the sidelines of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Petro participated in an anti-Israel demonstration and called for the U.S. military to disobey Trump, inviting the officials to join his proposal to the U.N. to create a multi-national army to fight in Gaza and “free Palestine.” Petro has not clarified what the end goal of a “free Palestine” army would look like, or from what this army would be trying to “free” Palestine.
The U.S. State Department responded by revoking Petro’s U.S. visa over his “reckless and incendiary actions” in New York. The Colombian Foreign Ministry condemned the measure as a “diplomatic weapon” and a “violation” of Petro’s free speech rights. Petro’s calls to the U.S. military are the latest on a lengthy list of actions committed by the Colombian leftist president throughout the year that have strained Colombia’s relations with the United States.
In recent years, Petro has sought to bring Colombia closer to China and has officially visited the Asian nation twice. His most recent visit took place in May, when he signed a deal with genocidal dictator Xi Jinping to have Colombia join China’s predatory Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) debt trap program. The encounter took place on the sidelines of a broader ministerial meeting between China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) regional bloc. Petro represented CELAC in his capacity as the current chair of the group’s rotating pro-tempore presidency.
Petro and Xi’s 2025 encounter notably took place a week after Colombian former Foreign Minister Alvaro Leyva released a second public letter in May accusing Petro of suffering from drug addiction. In the second letter, which served as a follow-up from one issued in April, Leyva listed several “scandalous situations” with foreign heads of state and representatives caused by Petro that Leyva claimed serve as evidence of the president’s drug addiction. One such situation, he asserted, took place during Petro and Xi’s first encounter in 2023.
According to Leyva, Petro insisted on discussing the matter of Bogotá’s unfinished subway system with Xi, ignoring warnings from the Chinese Embassy in Colombia who allegedly stressed that the matter was of a lesser importance to Xi and would thus be disrespectful of Petro to bring up.
“You [Petro] ignored him [Xi]. As if he were not present. It was up to me to take [your] place. For two long hours, I talked with President Xi Jinping. In the meantime, ten courses were served in the style of official Chinese banquets,” Leyva wrote in the letter.
“With Xi Jinping, I had the pleasure of talking about his family and mine. About local politics, his vision of the world, and the future of international trade. Once again, I saw you in very bad shape, President Petro,” he continued.
Leyva’s letters prompted the Colombian Congress to launch an ongoing inquiry against Petro to investigate the drug addiction claims. In late September, Noticias RCN claimed to have obtained a copy of a 33-page document presented by Leyva to Congress certifying his accusations and urging that lawmakers order Petro to take medical and toxicology tests.
Leyva reportedly claimed in the document that he witnessed episodes that “demonstrate the president’s absences, improvisations, and erratic behavior.” According to the outlet, Leyva attached a list detailing 82 of Petro’s alleged “irregular behavior” incidents and a list recommending 19 investigative actions, which include sending delegates to China and other countries to corroborate his claims with the relevant authorities.
In addition to the “overhaul” of the Colombian diplomatic mission to China, Petro reportedly ordered the firing of all other “white” diplomats, including career ones, who do not align with his values.
“All the ambassadors, whom I call white, because they were raised in feudal diplomacy, are leaving,” Petro said. “Those who bring us down in the courts are replaced by people who follow the president’s line on international affairs, because I am, by constitution, the director of Colombia’s foreign relations.”
A local Foreign Ministry workers’ union reportedly responded to Petro’s claims on Wednesday in a protest letter condemning the statements and expressing its support of the Ministry’s career diplomat, consular, and administrative personnel.
“We do not understand the reasons for making accusations of ‘feudal diplomacy’ when entry into the career is through a public merit-based competition,” the letter reportedly read, asserting that career officials have no political affiliation and that their work is based on professional training and experience.
Petro, who served as mayor of Bogotá between 2012 and 2015, appears to be highly interested in Bogotá’s subway and presented a project for its construction during his tenure as mayor that did not materialize. In 2024, he publicly complained that the construction project was not proceeding as he wanted. According to the local government of Bogotá, the first Chinese-made train for the yet-to-be finished subway’s line 1 arrived in September.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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