MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Iran’s statements on Israel divide Uruguayan ruling coalition

Uruguay’s Foreign Secretary Gonzalo Fernandez condemned Ahmadinejad statements

Uruguay’ Foreign Affairs official rejection of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad latest statements regarding Israel and the Holocaust have caused “disappointment” in certain groups of the ruling coalition since they believe the government “caved in to lobbying from the local Israelite Committee”, reports the Montevideo press.

Led by the Communist party and a smaller radical group, both belonging to the Broad Front ruling coalition, they have announced they will propose before the movement’s Foreign Affairs and International Relations committee a statement condemning the government’s position critical of Iranian president Ahmadinejad.

“The historic position of the Broad Front of non intervention is not being respected by Foreign Affairs minister Gonzalo Fernandez”, said Carlos Alejandro, a member of the committee. He added Gonzalez caved in to pressures from the Israelite Committee and “we are disappointed Mr. Fernandez did not act with the same speed when Israel invaded the Gaza Strip”.

Socialist party sources, to which belong President Tabare Vazquez and Foreign Affairs minister Fernandez, also admitted that the official Uruguayan statement was not well received and were hopeful the issue would not reach the International relations committee of the Broad Front.

“But if the issue comes to a vote, we will support Fernandez”, said a leading member of the Socialist party.

The controversy was triggered by the official declaration which said that “statements from Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, among others, casting doubts over the undeniable Holocaust tragedy, were counter to the principles, purposes and efforts from the international community in the fight against racism and ethnic discrimination, and therefore the Uruguayan government rejects them unequivocally”.

“It’s unacceptable that they should have caved in to the pressures from the Israelite Committee. They didn’t even read carefully statements from the Iranian president”, insisted a reliable source from the Socialist Party, which was supported by several members from the Communist party.

Last week Uruguay’s Israelite Committee criticized the passive and non operative attitude of the Broad Front administration regarding the speech from Ahmadinejad at the UN conference on racism in Geneva.

At the conference the Iranian president ignored calls from US Secretary General Ban-Ki moon not to associate Zionism with racism and in his speech condemned the creation of the state of Israel which deprived “a whole nation of land under the pretext of the Jewish suffering”.

“We were hoping our government would adopt a stance in line with bravery that the graveness of the situation merited”, underlined the Uruguayan Jewish institution.

Meanwhile in parliament the opposition presented an urgent draft declaration in the Lower House rejecting Iran’s president statements.

“We believe it is necessary for parliament to express solidarity with the State of Israel and demand from the government of Iran an attitude of respect and tolerance following basic principles of International Law”, reads the project presented by Deputy Jaime Trobo.

However given the majority of the ruling coalition in the Uruguayan legislative and the controversy inside the administration, it’s hard to see any statement on the issue.

The Broad Front is a catch-all coalition extending from radical, former guerrillas, Socialist, Communists to Christian Democrats.