Luna Barreto (L) and Manuela Bedoya
Israeli authorities have released Colombia’s participants in the Global Sumud Flotilla, an international initiative that sought to break the siege on Gaza, according to the government.
In a post on social media platform X, Interior Minister Armando Benedetti said that Manuela Bedoya and Luna Barreto had been released from prison.
“We hope that they return safely to their homes,” said Benedetti, who stressed that the activists were kidnapped and detained in Israel illegally.
Citing anonymous Foreign Ministry sources, local media reported that Israeli migration authorities are expected to effectively deport the Colombian activists to Jordan.
Whether Barreto will return to Colombia is uncertain as she resides in Jordan with her Palestinian partner.
In videos that were released after their kidnapping, both activists called on Colombians to join protests on Tuesday, the second anniversary of the genocide that was triggered by an attack on Israeli towns outside of the besieged Gaza Strip.
These protests have escalated tensions between anti-genocide and anti-apartheid activists, and business elites that have opposed sanctions against sanctions.
According to the Colombian branch of the Sumud flotilla, the organization’s spokesperson has been receiving death threats after a stigmatization campaign by far-right politicians and pundits.
The organization demanded protection from the government and urged the Prosecutor General’s Office to investigate the death threats.
The National Association of Industrialists has accused the anti-apartheid movement of arbitrarily singling out the business association for its defense of multinationals that have been accused of profiting from the genocide.
The kidnapping of more than 400 flotilla activists reignited anti-genocide protests all over the world.
