Nothing is going well between La Paz and Israel. The Bolivian government announced on Tuesday that it was severing diplomatic relations with the Jewish state due to the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Bolivia, governed by left-wing President Luis Arce, becomes the first Latin American country to act in this way towards Israel. Chile and Colombia at the same time announced that they were recalling their ambassadors to Tel Aviv to protest respectively against “unacceptable violations of humanitarian law by Israel” and “the massacre of the Palestinian people”.
La Paz demands “an end to attacks”
The government “took the decision to break diplomatic relations with the State of Israel, as a sign of rejection and condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive carried out in the Gaza Strip,” declared the deputy minister. Bolivian Foreign Minister, Freddy Mamani, during a press conference.
“We are sending this official communication to the State of Israel, in which we make our decision known,” confirmed the Secretary General of the Presidency, Maria Nela Prada, during the same conference, announcing the sending humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip. “We demand an end to the attacks (…) which have so far caused thousands of civilian deaths and the forced displacement of Palestinians,” she added.
Hamas welcomes Bolivian choice
In a statement Tuesday, Hamas welcomed Bolivia’s announcement, expressing its “great esteem” for the decision taken, and urged Arab countries that have normalized relations with Israel to do the same. The Israeli government has not yet reacted.
Bolivia had already severed diplomatic relations with Israel in 2009. Former left-wing president Evo Morales intended to protest against Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip while La Paz has recognized a Palestinian state since the 1980s. Diplomatic ties were reestablished in November 2019 by a right-wing interim government before Luis Arce, then runner-up to Evo Morales, did not win the presidential election in 2020.