The former Colombian president Gustavo Petro has said that the people of Colombia don't consider Syria's Golan Heights to belong to Israel, offering an apology to the Arab world over the move made by new President Abelardo de la Espriella.
"The people of Colombia do not consider, for now, that the Golan Heights belong to Israel," Petro said in a statement on X.
"It has always been regarded, like the majority of humanity, that the Golan Heights belong to Syria."
Petro added that Israel influenced the recent presidential election in Colombia and replaced "popular vote with algorithms" to impose de la Espriella.
"Israel used its software to influence elections and replace the popular vote with algorithms, and imposed a man subjugated by the governments of Israel and the United States, Mr Abelardo de la Espriella, a US citizen, who did not obtain the majority of the votes from Colombians," Petro added.
"As a former president of Colombia, I offer an apology to all the countries of the Arab world and to the followers of Islam, whom we respect."
Occupied Syrian territory
On Monday, Colombia became the world's second country, after the US, to recognise Israel's sovereignty over the occupied Syrian territory.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar have welcomed the move.
Regional countries, however, denied the move, reaffirming that the Golan Heights remain an occupied Syrian territory.
Israel has occupied most of the Syrian Golan Heights since 1967 and annexed the territory in 1981, a move rejected by the UN as "null and void" under Resolution 497.
