By Pablo Meriguet
From People’s Dispatch

During the last year of Israeli genocide in Gaza, progressive and left groups in Latin America, as well as heads of state and parliamentarians, have repeatedly denounced the genocide of the Palestinian people through marches, rallies, meetings, artistic activities, pronouncements, and other means to reject Israeli crimes.

Over the last week, thousands of Latin Americans took to the streets on the anniversary of Israel’s genocide, joining millions across the world to demand an immediate end to Israel’s genocidal violence against Palestine and also against Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon, which is now facing daily bombings and a ground invasion by Israeli forces. Demonstrations were held in Caracas, Venezuela; Quito, Ecuador; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Santiago, Chile; São Paulo, Brazil; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Bogotá, Colombia.

In this regard, ALBA Movimientos wrote in a statement “In recent days, we have witnessed the decision of the Zionist state to turn this genocide into a regional war, expanding the attacks to Lebanon and Yemen.” In addition, the communiqué said, “It has been a year since the world has witnessed the horror recorded and televised, the Zionist might that persecutes, imprisons and represses demonstrations and any expression of support for our Palestinian brothers and sisters. Zionism, a racist ideology, is becoming more and more like Nazism and we must demand an end to the impunity to destroy resisting people. We have seen throughout Our America our people fighting against genocide but we need to join forces and demand that governments defend the Palestinian cause and stop being complicit in systematic extermination.”

Progressive governments stand with Palestine

Although at the beginning, only the socialist governments of Cuba and Venezuela dared to condemn Israel’s strikes on Palestine, the diplomatic silence on Israel’s crimes quickly broke and within the first weeks of Israel’s attacks, regional leaders began to raise their voices against a genocide that to date has claimed the lives of more than 42,000 Palestinians.

Cuba’s immediate condemnation of Israel’s aggression against Palestine was no surprise, given its historic position of standing on the side of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and and with the struggle for liberation. After breaking diplomatic relations with Israel in 1973, Cuba defended the re-establishment of the pre-1967 borders. In the last year, top Cuban leaders have issued numerous condemnations of Israel and even called mass mobilizations in Havana to emphasize the Cuban people’s support to Palestine. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel in January 2024 had remarked, “For Cubans, Palestine is a dear sister nation. The cause of its people has always been defended by the Revolution. In days of so much horror, so much pain and so much shame for humanity, we renew our firm commitment to a Free Palestine.” Cuba also supported South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of genocide.

This lawsuit, filed at the International Court of Justice by South Africa, was first supported in January 2024 in Latin America by Nicaragua. President Daniel Ortega was one of the first Latin American leaders to call the State of Israel “genocidal”.

Venezuela, which has not had diplomatic relations with Israel since 2009, also joined the ICJ case, with President Nicolás Maduro calling Israel’s indiscriminate and constant airstrikes an “Israeli policy of terrorist extermination” of the Palestinian people (and now of the Lebanese), in order to undertake a colonizing project in the Arab world. Moreover, the Venezuelan president has consistently denounced the silence and passivity of the United States and European countries, which has not only done nothing to stop the murder of thousands of Palestinians and the destruction of Lebanon, but has facilitated and encouraged it.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has also been one of the leading voices expressing condemnation of Israel’s military actions. He joined South Africa’s lawsuit at the International Court of Justice, broke diplomatic relations with Israel, and condemned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in September at the United Nations General Assembly, for his warlike attitude. In a speech, he said “When Gaza dies, all humanity will die…Today we have 20,000 dead children. Today we have 20,000 children killed under bombs and the presidents of the countries of human destruction are laughing in these corridors.”

Another president who took advantage of his speech at the United Nations to denounce the crimes of the Israeli Army was Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The Brazilian head of state said, regarding the excuse of self-defense usually outlined by the Israeli authorities, “The right of defense has become the right of revenge, which prevents an agreement to free hostages and delays a cease-fire.” In July, Brazil signed a free trade agreement with representatives of the Palestinian Authority and two months earlier withdrew its ambassador from Israel in protest of the genocide.

Another Latin American giant, Mexico, also demanded a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador formally requested a ceasefire in Gaza and in June joined the case led by South Africa against the State of Israel for its actions which, he said, seem to be aimed at the eradication of Palestinian culture. It is not yet known what will be the attitude of the new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, towards the conflict, although on several occasions she has stated that she does not support the Israeli offensive.

The Chilean government has also announced its intention to join South Africa’s ICJ lawsuit and President Gabriel Boric has on numerous occasions called for an end to the attacks on the Palestinian people. This is particularly important as Chile is home to more than 500,000 descendants of Palestinians who migrated throughout the 19th and 20th centuries to the South American country. However, Chile has not broken diplomatic relations with Israel, a measure demanded by the thousands of demonstrators who marched in Chile’s capital Santiago, last week.

Bolivia is another country that has also stood firmly with Palestine and was the first to cut diplomatic ties with Israel after the start of the genocide in November 2023. In this regard, Secretary of State Celinda Sosa said “Bolivia embraces the Palestinian cause and will defend its rights in all multilateral spaces and courts. In this context, we fully support the incorporation of Palestine as a member with full rights in the United Nations”.

While the governments in the progressive camp have spoken out, notably, right-wing governments have either remained silent or even expressed explicit support for Israel, like the Argentine government of Javier Milei who has defended Israel’s actions saying that it has not committed any excesses.