President Petro Appoints Fake Antisemitic Rabbi as Director of Religious Affairs
April 4, 2025
Buenos Aires, April 4
The President of Colombia appointed Richard Gamboa, formerly Ricardo Rodríguez, as head of the national office that regulates the operation of religious organizations in the country.
Gamboa is a fraud who displays a degree purchased for 150 US Dollars on the website www.northernway.org; he lacks rabbinical training, congregation, and scruples.
He uses this fake investiture to, from a supposedly Jewish position, establish a narrative against Israel and condemn it for genocide against the Palestinian people, justifying Petro's official antisemitism.
His background includes his close relationship with the Iranian ambassador in Colombia, his social media posts calling Israel a "neo-Nazi state," and his claims that zionists are not Jews but heretics.
In his new role, he will be the one who authorizes or outlaws Jewish communities in Colombia. He announced that he will seek to repeal the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Definition of Antisemitism, which Colombia has incorporated into its antidiscrimination legislation, and to "hunt down zionist propagandists.”
Dr. Dario Pendzik, Simon Wiesenthal Center Assistant Director for Latin America, stated: “Petro wasn’t improvising when he appointed Gamboa. There is a clear strategy to show that the good Jew is the one who attacks and denies Israel. This very week, along with his Minister of Culture, he received anti-Zionist Jewish groups and alleged representatives of the Palestinian Diaspora.”
The Center's Regional Director, Dr. Ariel Gelblung, added: "Petro spares no resources or creativity in attacking Israel. Now he's resorting to the classic antisemitic maneuver of using the 'Jewish friend.' He's crossing a line by bringing antisemitism into the state policy, and from now on, he will justify his attack on the Jewish community through ideological persecution and violations of religious freedom.”
For further information, please email Ariel Gelblung, SWC’s Director of Latin America, at agelblung@wiesenthal.com, join the Center on Facebook, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent directly to your Twitter feed.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center is an international Jewish human rights organization. It holds consultative status at the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the Council of Europe, the OAS, and the Latin American Parliament (PARLATINO).
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