After the announcement of President Gustavo Petro, to order the National Navy to block the exit of the ship loaded with coal that sailed from the port of Ciénaga, bound for Israelplus the repeated warnings he has made around trade with that mineral territory, the president could be taking the country to an international commercial conflict.
Sector experts also ensure that Petro would be ignoring decree 1047 of 2024, that his Government signed that although it prohibits coal exports to future Israel, This same enables companies to undergo consolidated legal status and Continue with the signed contracts before issuing the standard.
See more: Petro will order the Navy to stop ships loaded with coal to Israel
Now, bringing the discussion to the International concerns, the possibility that Colombia enters a commercial conflict with Israel seems to be fueled. According to sources consulted by this medium and asked not to be identified, in most cases once the load bundles of the port, it no longer belongs to the Colombian company, but to the buyer from abroad.
These types of situations, Not only from coal to Israel, but with any other Colombian product that bought a foreigner, could generate an international commercial conflictbecause breaches and interceptions trigger legal dispensing with non -Colombian individuals.
Coal exports from Colombia
María Claudia Lacouture, president of the Colombian Chamber of Commerce, (Amcham Colombia), stressed that Petro’s insistence could lead to the aforementioned conflict, taking into account that international trade is not governed by unilateral decisions of the Executive Power.
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“Ordering the interruption of exports without legal support and outside the institutional channels not only violates legal certaintybut it can climb in legal, commercial and even diplomatic conflicts“, said.
He said that in this case there is no international sanction against Israel or an official declaration of Colombia that supports the decision. “Order to stop a ship with a load authorized by decree, in addition to Show institutional instability, feel a serious precedent for compliance with the rule of law in Colombia“He added.
See more: coal to Israel: This Petro government document authorized Drummond to export
The president of the National Foreign Trade Association (Analdex), Javier Díaz, said there are other risks in the statements. “It is a controversy that could even lead to the FTA with Israel. It will not happen already, but it could happen“, held.
He does not know his rule
The recent statements of the president have revived the legal debate about the real scope of the decree that restricts the exports of the mineral to that country. For lawyer Camilo Cuervo, foreign trade expert, The president would openly ignore the rule that his government signed.
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According to the jurist, he prohibits holding new contracts, but does not block those already signed. Therefore, preventing its execution could open the door to multiple demands against the State.
Warns that stopping legal contracts with the support of the Public Force exposes the country to what is known as the ‘fact of the prince’, which Recognize when government decisions affect legitimate interests of individuals.
“The companies that already had their contracts signed and that they can prove that the fruit of that lost money, will be charged to Colombia for a whim of President Petro”He warned.
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Cuervo insisted that the State could face expensive litigationbecause “Demands against the State would come so that all the coal that I stop buying Israel we pay it to the companies that stopped selling it”
Coal exports from Colombia
Amid the president’s ignorance by his norm, the situation with Drummond LDT adds. Portfolio knew exclusively the document with which the same Government, through the Ministry of Commerce, authorized this company to continue exports to Israel, in application of the mechanism to prove the consolidated legal situation or the legitimate expectation established in Decree 1047 of August 14, 2024.
The document recognizes the consolidated legal situation presented by the company and approved for a total of four years the continuity of coal exports to Israel.
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The communication, signed by Luz Belén Fernández Álvarez, Deputy Director of Design and Management of Operations of the Mincomercio, specifies that the company authorized to export to Israel is Drummond Ltd, with the interoceiary interocean Coal Sales LLC and the client abroad The National Coal Supply Corporation Limited.
It is specified that 10.2 million tons of thermal coal were negotiated, But the amount recognized within the consolidated legal situation is 9.4 million tons. In the same document the Ministry says textually that “The recognized amount is approved to be exported between August 20, 2024 and December 31, 2028”
Diana K. Rodríguez T.
Portfolio journalist
