{"id":46235,"date":"2014-08-18T12:00:27","date_gmt":"2014-08-18T11:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=46235"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:30:43","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:30:43","slug":"why-latin-american-leaders-are-standing-up-to-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2014\/08\/why-latin-american-leaders-are-standing-up-to-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Latin American Leaders Are Standing Up to Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"latin<\/a><\/p>\n

The frostier their relations are with the US, the more likely they are to sympathize with the Palestinians.<\/p>\n

Since the Israeli offensive against Gaza began, images of Palestinian children murdered in their homes and schools and bombs exploding in neighborhoods have outraged people around the globe. Many governments have followed the United States, making empty declarations against the violence, as if the death dealing were equal and not overwhelmingly of Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli bombs and bullets.<\/p>\n

But as the U.S. government backpedals to reconcile its unconditional support<\/a> of Israel with basic principles of human rights<\/a> and Europe waffles<\/a>, one region stands out in its opposition to the siege of Gaza: Latin America. Leaders from across the region have condemned the Israel Defense Forces\u2019 attacks on Gaza as excessive and unfair.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what\u2019s happening in the Gaza Strip is dangerous,\u201d Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff told the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s genocide, but I think it\u2019s a massacre.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chile, currently a member of the U.N. Security Council, stated that<\/a> the Israeli government \u201cdoes not respect the fundamental norms of international humanitarian law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uruguayan President Jos\u00e9 Mujica condemned the attacks in a weekly radio show. \u201cThe loss of perspective in the response is undermining Israel\u2019s prestige and, I think, sullies the marvelous history of the Jewish people. Hatred and revenge do not work to build civilization,\u201d he said<\/a>. Bolivia\u2019s Evo Morales went further, saying, \u201cIsrael does not guarantee the principle of respect for life and the basic right to live in harmony and peace in the international community,\u201d adding that Israel was \u201cpassing onto the list of terrorist states.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa joined the criticisms and canceled<\/a> a planned official visit to Israel later this year.<\/p>\n

In addition, at a recent meeting the regional bloc Mercosur issued a statement<\/a> condemning \u201cthe disproportionate use of force on the part of the Israeli armed forces in the Gaza Strip, force which has almost exclusively affected civilians, including many women and children,\u201d while criticizing Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians. Mercosur urged \u201can immediate lifting of the blockade that is affecting the Gaza population, so that the free movement of people, food, medicine and humanitarian aid can flow freely in and out, both by land and sea\u201d and \u201can immediate and durable cease-fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Louder than words<\/strong><\/p>\n

The declarations didn\u2019t mince words. But what really called attention to the region\u2019s stance were their governments\u2019 actions. So far, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador and Peru have withdrawn their ambassadors from Israel, and Venezuela suspended diplomatic relations.<\/p>\n

This drew the ire of Israeli officials. The government blamed Brazil for leading the pack and called the South American regional leader \u201ca diplomatic dwarf<\/a>.\u201d The Israeli reaction started to look like the behavior of a bully in the schoolyard when Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor added that Brazil was \u201can irrelevant diplomatic partner, one who creates problems rather than contributes to solutions\u201d and through a clumsy non sequitur recalled the nation\u2019s 7-1 loss in the World Cup just in case the previous insults didn\u2019t sting enough.<\/p>\n

And yet the Latin American position wasn\u2019t entirely surprising. Latin American nations have historically shown their support for the Palestinians. In a recent column in El Pa\u00eds, Peruvian writer Diego Garcia-Sayan points out<\/a> that Latin America has defended the Palestinians at key moments in history. He notes that Latin American nations called for withdrawal from occupied territories in the 1967 Six-Day War and drew up what would become Resolution 242. In recent years, nearly all Latin American have recognized the Palestinian state.<\/p>\n

A major factor in the forthright tone of current criticism of Israel, though, is Latin America\u2019s relatively newfound independence from U.S. foreign policy. For the first time, a majority of the continent isn\u2019t afraid to offend its northern neighbor.<\/p>\n

Country by country, Latin America still breaks along geopolitical fault lines on the Palestinian issue, as on most other foreign policy issues. The nations most tightly tied to the U.S. \u2014 Mexico and Colombia, for example \u2014 have had muted responses, while center-left governments have come out strong in opposition to Israeli bombings and the occupation of Gaza.<\/p>\n

The list of Latin American nations that refuse to recognize the Palestinian state follows to the letter the list of nations with the strongest military and economic ties to the United States: Colombia, Mexico and Panama. These countries receive significant amounts of Israeli arms<\/a>, which reached at least $107 million in sales to the region in 2012, often with U.S. aid. In the November 2012 vote to admit Palestine<\/a> to the U.N. as a nonmember observer state, Panama voted no, and Paraguay, Colombia and Guatemala abstained.<\/p>\n

Today counterhegemony movements, new regional organizations, like the Union of South American Nations and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, that do not include the United States and a coming of age in global affairs have combined to make Latin America a leading voice. The fact that it has been one of the most economically dynamic regions \u2014 with emerging economies, a BRICS member and growth rates that compare very favorably with crisis-bound developed countries\u2019 \u2014 doesn\u2019t hurt either.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why the Israeli government lashed out in response to the withdrawal of the Latin American ambassadors. The move sets a dangerous example. The southern countries broke out of the historical and ideological confines that equate any criticism of Israel as an attack on its right to exist and an affront to the U.S. and acted on the basis of human rights and international law. By so doing, Latin America sent a double message: that it supports the Palestinians and it will no longer render diplomatic tribute<\/a> to the United States.<\/p>\n

A Latin America freed from U.S. dictums has the capacity, if not to isolate a wayward state, at least to send a powerful message of opprobrium.<\/p>\n

Hopefully, other nations will see the example and follow suit.<\/p>\n

________________________<\/p>\n

Laura Carlsen is the director of the Americas program of the Center for International Policy in Mexico City. She is a frequent commentator on Latin American relations and an international consultant on gender and foreign policy issues.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 aljazeera.com<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Join the BDS-BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS <\/em>campaign<\/em><\/strong><\/span> to protest the Israeli barbaric siege of Gaza, illegal occupation of the Palestine nation\u2019s territory, the apartheid wall, its inhuman and degrading treatment of the Palestinian people, and the more than 7,000 Palestinian men, women, elderly and children arbitrarily locked up in Israeli prisons.<\/p>\n

DON’T BUY<\/strong> PRODUCTS WHOSE<\/strong> BARCODE<\/strong> STARTS WITH<\/strong> 729<\/strong>, which indicates that it is produced in Israel.\u00a0\u00a0 DO YOUR PART! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

7 2 9: BOYCOTT FOR JUSTICE!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Latin America freed from U.S. dictums has the capacity, if not to isolate a wayward state, at least to send a powerful message of opprobrium. Hopefully, other nations will see the example and follow suit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latin-america-and-the-caribbean"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46235\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}