Cadets at a Colombian police academy were documented dressing up in SS Nazi officer uniforms and waving flags with swastikas as part of a "cultural exchange" event in honor of Germany.
The Simon Bolivar Police Academy in Tulua shared photos from the event to its Twitter account last Thursday and wrote that it was aimed at "strengthening the knowledge" of police officers in training.
Pictures from the event depict cadets dressed in the grey-green uniform of the Wehrmacht and raising Nazi flags and swastikas. One of the participants was seen wearing a mustache styled after Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
The incident sparked outrage in the South American country and prompted Colombian President Ivan Duque to condemn the "unacceptable" act and issue an apology.
"I condemn anything that symbolizes or identifies with those responsible for the Jewish Holocaust. All those who participated in the event will be held accountable," Duque said and added that the commander of the academy had been suspended due to the incident.
The German and Israeli embassies in Bogota issued a joint statement expressing "total rejection of any form of apologetics or demonstration of Nazism."
The ambassadors of the two countries called on the Colombian government to invest more in public education about the Holocaust.