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Published: 02 November 2023
The echoes of the events in Gaza and the brutal and inhuman Israeli aggression are still
floating around the world. after the demonstrations that swept the major European
capitals, the repercussions of the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip were reflected to reach the
borders of Latin America, where Bolivia officially announced the severance of diplomatic
relations with Israel, "rejecting and condemning the aggressive and unequal attack being
waged in the Gaza Strip". Later, Colombia and Chile announced the recall of their
ambassadors from Tel Aviv for the same reason.
Edited by |ANNA sam
South America section - CJ journalist
La Paz - November,2,2023
Bolivia has severed diplomatic relations with Israel, in protest at the Israeli army's shelling of
the Gaza Strip and"rejecting and condemning the aggressive and unequal attack being
waged in the Gaza Strip".
During a press conference, Bolivian Deputy Foreign Minister Freddy Mamani announced that
the government "has decided to sever diplomatic relations with the state of Israel, rejecting
and condemning the aggressive and unequal attack being waged in the Gaza Strip".
For her part, Presidential Minister Maria nella Prada said during the press conference that La
Paz is sending humanitarian aid to Gaza, and"we demand an end to the attacks" in the Gaza
Strip, which "have so far caused the death of thousands of civilians and forced displacement
of Palestinians.
With this decision, Bolivia, ruled by leftist president Luis Arce, became the first country in
Latin America to sever diplomatic relations with Israel since the outbreak of the war in the
Gaza Strip.
In the same context, Chile and Colombia announced the recall of their ambassadors in Tel
Aviv in protest against the "unacceptable violations of humanitarian law by Israel" according
to Santiago and the"massacre against the Palestinian people" according to Bogota.
Chile said that the recall of the ambassador to Israel came in protest against the large-scale
military offensive launched by Israel on the Gaza Strip.
The Chilean Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it had summoned Ambassador Jorge
Carvajal in protest against "unacceptable Israeli violations of humanitarian law in the Gaza
Strip". Santiago "strongly condemns and observes with great concern" the ongoing Israeli
military operations in the Gaza Strip, stressing her condemnation of the measures of
"collective punishment of the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza".
Chile is home to the largest Palestinian diaspora outside the Arab world.
The leaders of several Latin American countries expressed their opposition to the Israeli
attack on the Gaza Strip, which, according to the Palestinian Ministry of health, killed more than 9,600 people, including more than 3,400 children.
Colombia had asked the Israeli ambassador to leave the country, before backing down from
that position. On his account on the " X " platform, Colombian President Gustavo Petro
announced the recall of his country's ambassador to Israel, "I have decided to recall our
ambassador to Israel. If Israel does not stop the massacre of the Palestinian people, we will
not be able to stay there,"he said.
For its part, Israel was quick to comment on the Bolivian move, considering that it
constitutes a "surrender to terrorism".
"Bolivia's decision to sever diplomatic relations with Israel is a capitulation to terrorism and
the mullahs' regime in Iran,"the Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement.
"The Bolivian government stands on the side of the Hamas terrorist organization,"he added.
This is not the first time Bolivia has taken this position, having previously severed diplomatic
relations with Israel in 2009 under former leftist President Evo Morales, who took this step
in protest at the Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip.
Diplomatic relations between Bolivia and Israel remained severed until they were restored
by an interim right-wing government in November 2019 before Luis Arce won the
presidential election in 2020.
