Colombian President Ivan Duque Marquez issued an apology Friday after cadets at the Simon Bolivar Police Academy in Tulua wore Nazi uniforms during a cultural exchange event with representatives from Germany.
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Cadets wore Wehrmacht and SS uniforms, with some even sporting Adolf Hitler-style mustaches. Decorations included swastikas, the Luftwaffe aerial warfare branch and other symbols of the Nazi regime.
Photographs of the event were shared on an official police Twitter account, with the caption, "With these cultural exchanges, we strengthen the knowledge of our students."
Marquez said, "any acceptance or expression of Nazism is completely unacceptable. I condemn all use of the symbols of the regime that is responsible for the murder of six million people."
The Israeli and German embassies in Bogota issued a joint statement expressing "total rejection of any form of recognition and demonstration of Nazism."
The Colombian Defense Ministry, which oversees the police, also issued a statement, apologizing and condemning the "unacceptable" conduct.
In the aftermath of the scandal, the head of the Simon Boliver Police Academy was dismissed.
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