LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) 鈥� Bolivia’s said Tuesday that it restored diplomatic relations with Israel, the latest sign of the in the South American country that was once among the most vocal critics of Israeli policies toward Palestinians.
Bolivian Foreign Minister Fernando Aramayo met his Israeli counterpart in Washington and signed a declaration agreeing to revive bilateral ties, which Bolivia’s previous left-wing government over Israel’s devastating in Gaza.
Bolivia’s ministry said the two countries would reinstate ambassadors in the near future and dispatch officials on visits.
As part of a new foreign policy strategy under conservative , the rapprochement “represents a return to trust, intelligent cooperation and the ties that have always existed, but which are now being revitalized with a modern perspective,鈥� the ministry said in a statement after the meeting late Tuesday.
Aramayo, as well as Bolivian Economy Minister Jos茅 Gabriel Espinoza, launched this week into a whirlwind of meetings with American officials as their with the United States and unravel nearly two decades of hard-line, anti-Western policies under the Movement Toward Socialism, or MAS, party that left Bolivia economically isolated and diplomatically allied with China, Russia and Venezuela.
Paz’s government on American and Israeli travelers last week.
In announcing his meeting with Aramayo on Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Saar thanked Bolivia for scrapping Israeli visa controls and said he spoke to Paz after the center-right senator’s to express 鈥淚srael鈥檚 desire to open a new chapter鈥� in relations with Bolivia.
Paz entered office last month, ending the dominance of the MAS party founded by union leader who became Bolivia’s first Indigenous president in 2006. Not long after taking power, Morales sent Israel’s ambassador packing and over their shared enmity toward the U.S. and Israel.
When reelection prompted him to resign under pressure from the military, a right-wing took over and restored full diplomatic relations with the U.S. and Israel as it sought to undo many of Morales鈥� popular policies.
brought the MAS party back to power with the , who in 2023 once again cut ties with Israel in protest over its military actions in Gaza.
Other left-wing Latin American countries, like Chile and Colombia, , recalling their ambassadors and joining before the United Nations鈥� highest judicial body.
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Associated Press writer Isabel DeBre in Buenos Aires contributed.
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