Summary
- As the West retaliates to support Palestinians, some Latin American countries claim to endorse Palestine.
- The question here arises as to why some Latin American countries are in solidarity with Palestinians.
- It is still unclear how far these Latin American countries will support Palestinians because countries like Chile and Colombia rely heavily on Israeli weapons imports.
As the West retaliates to support Palestinians, some Latin American countries claim to endorse Palestine. Brazil’s president Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, during a live conference, said; “this is a problem, it is not a war, it is a genocide”.
In addition to this in the UN general assembly, Bolivia representative, Deigo Pary, annunciated that Bolivia will be on the right side of history. It will be on the side of the right of Palestine. Bolivia also cut diplomatic ties with Israel.
Moreover, the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, promulgates that; “they are forgetting that the same reasons they used to defend Zelenskyy (president of Ukraine) are the very reasons which should be used to defend Palestine. According to a tweet by AJ Plus, at least 11 Latin American countries have been outspoken against Israeli aggression in Gaza and the West Bank.
Why are so many countries in Latin America showing solidarity with Palestinians? Here’s what we know. pic.twitter.com/ez7QfSUQOr
— AJ+ (@ajplus) November 16, 2023
Furthermore, Chile, Colombia, and Honduras recalled their ambassadors. Brazil, Mexico and Peru demanded a ceasefire. Colombian President, Gustavo Petro also compared Israeli attacks on Gaza to the Nazi persecution of Jews.
The question here arises as to why some Latin American countries are in solidarity with Palestinians. The pretext we found is in the history of colonialism and imperialism. Looking back 100 years ago, we witnessed dozens of US invasions, occupations and coups toppling democratic governments.
As an illustration, the US backed the coup that installed the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile during the 1970s, and it supported the armed groups, destabilizing the Sandinista government in Nicaragua in the 1980s, which came to power through a popular revolution.
Many in the region now identify Israel as a colonial project made possible with the support of the US. Latin America also hosts some of the largest Palestinians Diasporas outside of the Arab world. Around 700,000 people of Palestinian descent live there.
Historian says they arrived in three waves. First in World War I, and then in 1948 after the forced expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians from their homes. The third wave was after the ethnic cleansing that followed in 1967 in the Arab-Israel war.
As far back as 1967, Chile, Honduras and El Salvador abstained from the UN vote to partition Palestine. On top of that, indigenous people of Latin America have been fighting for land recognition and equal rights for years, just like Palestinians.
On the map, 12 out of 20 countries in Latin America are run by left-wing governments. Many of these are not even looking for Washington for support or approval. Many countries are calling out for hypocrisy in the US for denouncing civilians being killed while enabling the massacre of Palestinian people.
It is still unclear how far these Latin American countries will support Palestinians because countries like Chile and Colombia rely heavily on Israeli weapons imports.
But are they willing to give that up?
