Reversing Pro-Palestinian Stance of Evo Morales, Bolivia's Coup Government Moves to Restore Ties Wit

Reversing Pro-Palestinian Stance of Evo Morales, Bolivia's Coup Government Moves to Restore Ties With Israel
Published on
Friday, November 29, 2019
by Common Dreams

Reversing Pro-Palestinian Stance of Evo Morales, Bolivia's Coup Government Moves to Restore Ties With Israel
Morales cut off diplomatic ties with Israel over its deadly 2009 assault on the occupied Gaza Strip and called for top Israeli officials to be charged with genocide.

by Jake Johnson, staff writer



Self-declared interim President Jeanine Añez during a press conference at the Bolivian Palace of Government on November 24, 2019 in La Paz , Bolivia. (Photo by Gaston Brito Miserocchi/Getty Images)

The right-wing coup regime in Bolivia announced plans Thursday to restore diplomatic relations with Israel, reversing ousted former President Evo Morales' 2009 decision to cut off ties with the country over its weeks-long assault on the occupied Gaza Strip that killed over a thousand Palestinians.

Speaking to the media Thursday, Bolivian Foreign Minister Karen Longaric expressed hope that reestablishing ties with Israel will "lead to positive aspects for both sides and contribute to Bolivian tourism."

Israel's foreign ministry celebrated the foreign minister's announcement in a statement.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has ​actively worked for a long period of time to promote the renewal of the relationship, also with the help of the Brazilian president [Jair Bolsonaro] and minister of foreign affairs, with whom I recently spoke on the subject at the U.N. Conference in New York," said Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz. "The departure of President Morales, who was hostile to Israel, and his replacement by a government friendly to Israel, allows the fruition of the process."

The move comes over two weeks after Morales, Bolivia's first Indigenous president, was forced out by a military coup that brought right-wing Senator Jeanine Añez to power.

In addition to threatening to arrest leftist lawmakers and giving the Bolivian military free rein to gun down Indigenous anti-coup protestors, the Añez government quickly pushed Bolivia's foreign policy to the right.

More:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/11/29/reversing-pro-palestinian-stance-evo-morales-bolivias-coup-government-moves-restore

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