Latin America, divided and with nuances about the conflict between Israel and Hamas

Although the political overtones and the weight of History mark the positions of Latin Americans regarding the war between Israel and Hamasmost left-wing governments maintain their traditional support for the Palestinian cause and, with Brazil at the forefront, advocate for a peaceful solution.

Since the attack by the Islamist group Hamas on October 7 on Israeli territory in which some 1,400 people were killed, Israel has incessantly bombed the Gaza Strip causing at least 7,000 deaths, according to the Palestinian movement.

Among the dead there are at least nine Argentines, three Brazilians, three Peruvians, one Colombian, one Chilean and one Honduran, in addition to around thirty missing Latin Americans, of which 21 are Argentinian.

Brazil, the “referee”

Brazil, which has regained international prominence after the return of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to power, is the most active Latin American country in the search for a ceasefire.

As president of the UN Security Council, the veteran leftist has multiplied diplomatic contacts with a critical stance towards Hamas and also with Israel.

“It is not because Hamas committed a terrorist act against Israel that Israel has to kill millions of innocent people.”Lula stated this week.

“My role is to try to create the conditions for us to sit at a negotiating table.”. “It is necessary that Israel keep the territory that is its (…) and that the Palestinians have the right to their lands“, he claimed.

Although his efforts have so far failed to pass a resolution in the Security Council, Lula perseveres: “I am tired of making phone calls, but I will continue because it is necessary.”

Brazil places “like a referee”says Roberto Goulart Menezes, coordinator of the Latin American Studies Center at the University of Brasilia.

And “this position of condemning Hamas attacks, but without supporting disproportionate measures of force by Israel” is the one that predominates on the Latin American continent, the specialist points out.

For a Palestinian state

This is also the case of left-wing rulers such as Gabriel Boric in Chile and the Mexican Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

“We do not want to take sides because we want to be a factor in the search for a peaceful solution“said AMLO.

Chile, with the largest Palestinian community outside the Arab world (500,000), condemned the Hamas attack while defending the resumption of negotiations that include a two-state solution.

This is due to a positionhistorical” of Latin American countries, says Karina Calandrin, professor of International Relations and advisor to the Brazil-Israel Institute.

The region “was always favorable to the self-determination of peoples, including the Palestinians, and the need for the establishment of a State”says Calandrin.

The vast majority of Latin American countries recognize Palestine as a State or have diplomatic offices in Ramallah, West Bank.

Petro and the “radical left”

For his part, the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, has flooded the networks with messages about the conflict, some described by Israel as “antisemites”.

His position is reminiscent of the role played by former Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez (1999-2013) in defense of the Palestinian cause.

“Petro tries to show his ideological credentials, in which the Palestinian cause is very important for the international left” and “position himself as the leader who will fill the leadership vacuum of the radical left in the region“, Víctor Mijares, director of Strategos, a global security observatory at the Universidad de los Andes, in Bogotá, tells AFP.

The governments of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, who accused Israel of “genocide against the Palestinian people“, Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua or Cuba”They are discredited or a little isolated”, he maintains.

The right and Fernández’s Argentina

Among the countries that expressed greater solidarity with Israel are Paraguay, Uruguay, El Salvador and Ecuador because they are right-wing governments, says Calandrin.

The exception is Argentina, governed by the Peronist Alberto Fernández, and with the largest Jewish community in Latin America, with at least 250,000 members.

Buenos Aires was the scene of two anti-Jewish attacks in the 1990s, which left more than a hundred dead.

Last week, the embassies of Israel and the United States in the Argentine capital received bomb threats.

In front of the emblematic Colón theater, a campaign displayed the portraits of some of the nearly 200 Hamas hostages to demand their release.

Repudiation of Hamas

The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, of Palestinian descent, vehemently repudiated Hamas.

“The best thing that could happen to the Palestinian people is for Hamas to disappear completely. These wild beasts do not represent the Palestinians”said Bukele on X (formerly Twitter).

Former Uruguayan President José Mujica begged Hamas to release the kidnapped Latin Americans.

“They are not going to solve the problem of Palestine, the just cause that it could have had historically, by sacrificing people“said the former leftist guerrilla.