Israeli President Shimon Peres rolled out the red carpet for the arrival of his Columbian counterpart Juan Manuel Santos Calderon in Jerusalem Monday at the head of a delegation of senior business leaders and government ministers to increase the allies’ cooperation across trade, innovation and aviation sectors.
The official state visit was marked by a customary honour guard inspection, before Peres welcomed the Columbian leader in a speech acknowledging him as “a true friend of Israel”. Heralding his success in fighting terrorism domestically, he offered Israel’s expertise and aid in economic development and innovation, before both leaders signed three new bilateral agreements - a free trade agreement, an innovation agreement and an aviation agreement.
Echoing the Israeli statesman’s sentiments, Calderon insisted his visit to the Jewish State was an expression of the “deep sense of friendship to Israel” felt by his 47 million citizens.
Columbia has seen a moderate decline in the size of its modest Jewish community since the mid-1990s, due to its unstable economy, with the numbers dwindling from approximately 5,650 to its current estimated level of 4,200. Despite some recent emigration to the US, the once Catholic country, which now claims no official religion, has largely maintained the size of its Jewish population since WWII when its numbers stood at 7,000, having absorbed significant numbers of Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany.
The community experienced a further growth in the 1950s and 1960s, due to the establishment of synagogues, schools and social clubs in the country’s main cities. The current community is housed mainly in Bogota. It has also absorbed Jews fleeing anti-Semitism in neighbouring Venezuela in recent years.
Columbia was slow to recognise the Jewish State at its inception, voting against the partition plan in 1947 and not establishing diplomatic relation with Israel until the 1960s, when the now allies both opened embassies in their respective countries. Relations dramatically improved in 1988 with the signing of their first major bilateral trade agreements.