On July 26, Colombia’s president-elect, Abelardo de la Espriella, announced a drastic reduction in Colombia’s diplomatic staff abroad. In a public address, he stated that he would close the embassies in Algeria, Azerbaijan, Barbados, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Ghana, Haiti, Hungary, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Romania, Senegal, and South Africa.
Regarding the situation of Colombians living in those countries, the far-right politician said that even though those embassies will be closed, there will be regular regional diplomatic missions to address the needs of his compatriots. Ultimately, he said, he aims to make diplomatic management “more efficient.”
Undoubtedly, this decision is based on the massive reduction of the state that De la Espriella advocated during his campaign. True to his neoliberal political ideology, the president-elect promised a radical 40% reduction of the state – a proposal that still raises a great deal of suspicion among Colombians, especially regarding how he will carry it out and which parts of the state will be most affected.
“Every peso we save on bureaucracy will be a peso we can invest in security, health, education, infrastructure, and, above all, opportunities for the poorest,” said the president-elect.
A radical shift in foreign policy
In addition to closing embassies in the aforementioned countries, De la Espriella stated that he will sever all diplomatic ties with Nicaragua and Cuba. “Under my administration, there will be no ties whatsoever with tyrannies,” he said via social media.
This decision (which might be seen as an isolated move) is in fact part of an international strategy to isolate Managua and Havana from the international diplomatic community. In March 2026, the right-wing governments of Costa Rica and Ecuador severed diplomatic ties.
Furthermore, following a series of international pressures (driven primarily by Washington) Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, and Guyana canceled their work agreements with Cuban doctors. For their part, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, and Grenada announced that they would reduce the number of Cuban doctors, one of the few sources of income for the Caribbean nation in the face of the economic, commercial, and energy blockade imposed on it by the US.
Thus, De la Espriella is joining a trend among far-right governments to undermine and curtail relations between countries that have not been “blessed” by Washington and its allies. Along the same lines, he announced the reopening of the Colombian embassy in Israel, which is located in Jerusalem. Relations between the two countries were severely strained following the attacks on Gaza, which President Petro openly denounced and criticized in nearly every international forum he attended.
In reality, this decision comes as no surprise to anyone, as it had already been announced during De la Espriella’s presidential campaign, and he has repeatedly expressed his support for the geopolitical policies of Israel and the United States.
Finally, De la Espriella announced that his government will conduct a comprehensive audit of all diplomatic missions to assess whether it makes sense to keep them operational – a move clearly seen as a step away a broader global diplomacy toward one more focused on his region and his geopolitical and military allies.
In other news, De la Espriella stated that, under his administration, the government’s operational headquarters will no longer be the traditional Casa de Nariño, but rather the Palacio de San Carlos, which currently houses the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He said he will convert the Casa de Nariño into a museum.
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