MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Activist target livestock shipments from Montevideo to Israel

Uruguay is receiving “blood-stained” money for these transactions, they claimed

Protesters demonstrated this week at the port of Montevideo to object to the shipment of live cattle to Israel. The joint effort by the Coordination for Palestine and the Maritime Port Coordination argued that it was improper to feed the country perpetrating a genocide in the Gaza Strip.

“Don’t feed the genocide” and “Stop the genocide in Palestine,” read the crowd's banners with which the groups implemented a “semi-blockade,” allowing some trucks to pass but keeping an eye out for those carrying livestock for Israel.

La Coordinación por Palestina y la Coordinadora Marítima Portuaria realizaron un bloqueo en el puerto de Montevideo para evitar la exportación de ganado en pie hacia Israel. “No alimentar el GENOCIDIO”. @teleSURtv pic.twitter.com/BeAQhQjZhE

— Mateo Grille (@mateoteleSUR) September 22, 2025

The organizers reported that no livestock trucks arrived during the protest, suggesting that the action was successful in disrupting the planned shipments.

The move also aimed to draw attention to trade between Uruguay and Israel, which -they claim- legitimizes the genocide they believe Israel is perpetrating in Gaza. The meat exports were complicit in the starvation of people there, the protesters also claimed.

The groups distributed informational materials highlighting that meat exports from Uruguay to Israel have significantly increased since January 2024.

In this scenario, the demonstrators also pushed for the Uruguayan Government of President Yamandú Orsi to sever all diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv: “Break relations with Israel,” they insisted. “Yesterday, South Africa; today, Palestine. Boycott and sanctions against Israel,” they further argued for three hours while speculating that potential exporters had been tipped about the protests, so they stayed and waited.“

”Every trade or other agreement that the Uruguayan government enters into with Israel is a legitimization of genocide and a direct responsibility that the people must oppose,“ the groups contended, because Uruguay ”receives blood-stained Israeli money in exchange for our cows.”