By Henry Srebrnik, [Saint John, N.B.] Telegraph-Journal

Most Latin American governments initially criticized the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, though some also expressed solidarity with Palestinians. But as the conflict continued, displeasure with Israel’s invasion of Gaza led to increased friction with the Jewish state.

Before the war began, Israel maintained diplomatic relations with all Latin American countries except Cuba and Venezuela. Bolivia broke off ties with Israel in 2009 but reinstated them in 2020.

On the right, a handful of countries with conservative governments, in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay expressed strong support for Israel.

El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, a Salvadoran with Palestinian ancestry, condemned Hamas. “I’m sure the best thing that could happen to the Palestinian people is for Hamas to completely disappear,” he wrote Oct. 9 on X, formerly Twitter. “Anyone who supports the Palestinian cause would make a great mistake siding with those criminals.”

Argentina’s 200,000 Jews make up the largest Jewish population in Latin America, and the sixth-largest in the world. On X, outgoing Argentinian President Alberto Fernandez expressed “strong condemnation” of the “brutal terrorist attack perpetrated by Hamas from the Gaza Strip against the State of Israel.”

Chile’s government also condemned the attacks on Israel “in the strongest terms,” expressing “sympathy and solidarity with the Israeli people” and families of the victims.

Colombia was less positive. Immediately following the Hamas rampage, Colombia’s Foreign Ministry released a press statement saying the government “strongly condemns terrorism and attacks against the civilian population.” One day later, though, the statement was replaced by a new press release that no longer included the word “terrorism.”

Colombian President Gustavo Petro Oct. 8 also stated on X that, had he lived in Germany in the 1930s, “I would have fought on the side of the Jews,” but “if I had lived in Palestine in 1948, I would have fought on the Palestinian side.” Israel’s ambassador to Bogota, Gali Dagan, lambasted Petro’s statements, engaging in a fiery exchange with the president on X.

In Mexico, President Lopez Obrador took a hands-off stance on the conflict, and the Foreign Ministry released a lengthy statement after the October massacre declaring that it was in favour of a “comprehensive, definitive two-State solution to the conflict that addresses Israel’s legitimate security concerns and allows for the consolidation of a politically and economically viable Palestinian State.”

Anti-Israel sentiment grew on the continent as casualties mounted in Gaza. Bolivia’s foreign ministry announced Oct. 31 that it was severing diplomatic ties with Israel over what it called Israel’s crimes against humanity. Bolivia’s current president, Luis Arce, is a member of the country’s left-wing Movement for Socialism party. Israel characterized his decision as a “surrender to terrorism and to the Ayatollah’s regime in Iran.”

Two other nations led by leftist leaders followed suit. Colombia and Chile, the latter home to the largest Palestinian diaspora outside the Middle East, both recalled their ambassadors to Israel. Chile’s President Gabriel Boric stated that “innocent civilians” were the “main victims of Israel’s offensive,” though he also condemned “the attacks and kidnappings perpetrated by Hamas.”

But Colombia’s Petro remained adamant in his condemnation of Israeli actions, accusing the Jewish state of “unacceptable” human rights violations.  “It’s called genocide; they’re doing it to remove the Palestinian people from Gaza and take it over,” Petro maintained on X.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry in turn called on them to “explicitly condemn the Hamas terrorist organization. Israel expects Colombia and Chile to support the right of a democratic country to protect its citizens, and to call for the immediate release of all the abductees, and not align themselves with Venezuela and Iran in support of Hamas terrorism.”

Soon afterwards, Honduras also recalled its ambassador for consultations on what it described as the “serious humanitarian situation” facing Palestinians. Citing what it called “unceasing indiscriminate bombing,” the central American of Belize also suspended diplomatic relations.

Argentina and Brazil increased their criticism of Israel’s military operations, with Buenos Aires contending that the “humanitarian situation in Gaza is ever more alarming.” Nothing, Argentina’s Foreign Ministry insisted, “justifies the violation of international humanitarian law and the obligation to protect the civilian population in armed conflicts.”

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called on Israel to end its bombing of Gaza. “We are seeing, for the first time, a war in which the majority of those killed are children,” Lula wrote on X. “Stop! For the love of God, stop!”

Two anti-American states strongly condemned Israel. President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua asserted that the country was always in “solidarity with the Palestinian cause,” while Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro declared that the Israelis “want to exterminate the Palestinian people.”

Even harsher attacks came from Cuba’s Communist government, which immediately called the conflict “a consequence of 75 years of permanent violation of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and Israel’s aggressive and expansionist policies.”

Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters, led by Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, marched in Havana Nov. 23 in front of the American embassy calling to “free Palestine” and accusing Israel of “genocide.”

The UN General Assembly Dec. 12 voted overwhelmingly to demand a humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza. Of the Latin American countries, only Guatemala and Paraguay opposed it. Panama and Uruguay abstained. Clearly, Israel has far more enemies than close friends south of the Rio Grande.