Chile has recognized Palestine as an independent state, Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno said Friday, following in the footsteps of several other Latin American countries.
The Chilean presidency Secretary General Eva Von Baer reterated this week that the Chilean Executive “fully supports the dialogue between both sides, the state of Israel and Palestine, and we support the continuation of such dialogue, and from that dialogue the creation of an independent Palestine state”.
The Ecuadorean government is the latest in Latin American to recognize Palestine as a sovereign state. The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that President Rafael Correa officially recognized Palestine on Friday as free and independent, with its borders since 1967 before the Israeli occupation.
President Jose Mujica is an “emblematic” figure at regional level and is one of the great assets of Uruguay’s foreign policy, said Foreign Affairs minister Luis Almagro on making a review of the first ten months of the administration.
Bolivia formally recognized Palestine as an independent and sovereign state within the 1967 borders, Bolivian President Evo Morales announced Wednesday. Reports last week indicated that such a decision was imminent
Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru are expected to recognize the state of Palestine with its borders prior to 1967, following the recent announcements from Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and last week Bolivia, according to Palestine sources.
President Evo Morales announced on Friday that Bolivia would recognize Palestine as an independent sovereign state. The Bolivian leader made the statement during the Mercosur summit in Brazil.
Member nations of Mercosur will seek to boost economic and political ties with Cuba in a bid to make the island an associate member of the trade bloc.
The decisions by the governments of Brazil and Argentina last week to recognize an independent Palestinian state with borders prior to the 1967 Six Day War has prompted criticism from the United States and intense lobbying in Santiago de Chile.
United States disapproved of the recognition of a Palestine state from the part of several Latin American countries, saying that direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians are still the only way to reach peace in the Middle East.