Why Latin America’s ‘Pink Tide’ Is Taking A Stand Against Israel
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As Israel’s bombardment of Gaza enters its second month, world leaders have increasingly voiced concern over the rising death toll and suspected human rights violations in the Palestinian territory.
But in the West, few have been as vocal — or as severe in their criticism — as the leftist leaders in Latin America, many of whom came to power as part of a progressive wave known as the “pink tide”.
On October 31, Bolivia severed its diplomatic relations with Israel, citing “the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive taking place in the Gaza Strip”. Colombia and Chile echoed that criticism, recalling their diplomats from Israel the very same day.
“If Israel does not stop the massacre of the Palestinian people, we cannot be there,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro posted on the social media platform X.
His message came minutes after his Chilean counterpart, Gabriel Boric, denounced the Israeli offensive as a “collective punishment on the Palestinian population in Gaza”.
Analysts said these acts of censure send a powerful signal from Latin America, a region that has largely maintained close, if sometimes tense, ties with Israel.
“It speaks to a Latin America that is not willing to tolerate such obvious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law,” said Mauricio Jaramillo, an international relations expert.
The Latin American leaders’ sharp rhetoric, he added, stood in stark contrast with statements from other Western leaders, like United States President Joe Biden, who have been more circumspect in their criticism of Israel.
In response to Latin America’s diplomatic backlash, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on Colombia and Chile to support its right “to protect its citizens”. To do otherwise, Israel suggested, would be to align “with Venezuela and Iran in support of Hamas terrorism”.
It also called Bolivia’s decision to cut relations altogether “a surrender to terrorism”.
Bolivia, Chile and Colombia were not alone in their criticism. By Friday, the leftist government in Honduras had likewise pulled its ambassador from Israel for “consultations”. And after last week’s bombing of Jabalia, Gaza’s largest refugee camp, more left-leaning leaders from Latin America spoke out against the Israeli violence.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Argentina, for instance, home to the largest Jewish community in Latin America, condemned the attack in a statement: “Nothing justifies the violation of international humanitarian law.”
The current conflict in Gaza, however, is not the first time Latin America’s leftist leaders have taken a stand against Israel.
Jaramillo pointed out that Cuba’s Fidel Castro became the first Latin American leader to break relations with Israel back in 1973.
Announced in the midst of the Cold War, Castro’s decision served as a rebuke both to Israeli aggression in the Middle East and to its biggest ally, the US — Cuba’s adversary at the time.
The legacy of the Cold War has primed Latin America’s leftist leaders to be sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, according to Jehad Jusef, the vice president of the Palestinian Union of Latin America, an association of Palestinian diaspora groups.
During the Cold War, the US backed military dictatorships in Latin America that suppressed leftist movements, Jusef said.
That history, he argued, serves as a parallel for the modern-day situation in Gaza, where the US is supporting Israel in a campaign that has raised grave human rights concerns.
Israel played its own role in Latin America’s Cold War period, serving as a major arms dealer to the US-backed military dictatorships in places like Guatemala and Argentina.
“Imperialism in Latin America is the same as imperialism in the Middle East,” Jusef said.
That history resonates in Latin America, where an estimated 42 million people identify as Indigenous. They too continue to grapple with a legacy of dispossession from their ancestral lands and racial discrimination, as part of European colonisation.
“Progressive movements in Latin America approach the Palestinian cause as one of decolonization,” said Manuel Rayran, an expert in international relations. “They identify with that cause because [many of the inequalities] seen in Latin America today are inherited from colonialism.”
Some political analysts like Cecilia Baeza have noted that Indigenous groups have even taken a leadership role in supporting Palestinian causes.
“In Chile and Bolivia, where this political convergence is particularly strong, it is not unusual to see Palestine solidarity protests called by both Palestinian diaspora organizations and Indigenous movements,” Baeza wrote in a 2015 article.
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