Bolivia and Israel officially resume diplomatic relations after two years of rupture
Israel and Bolivia resumed diplomatic relations on Tuesday, two years after Bolivia severed ties with Israel in protest of the Gaza war.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told his Bolivian counterpart Fernando Aramayo during a ceremony held at the residence of the Israeli ambassador to the United States: “Today we end the long and unnecessary separation between our two friendly countries”.
Sa’ar recalled that he spoke with Bolivia’s new center-right president, Rodrigo Paz Pereira, the day after his election in early October.
Paz Pereira also re-established relations with Washington, with which Bolivian Socialist President Evo Morales severed ties in 2008.
“We feel very close to the Israeli people because we share many challenges,” Armayo said during the ceremony.
“We’re aware of the long road ahead and the challenges we will have to overcome,” he added.
The government of former leftist President Luis Arce Catacora was the first in Latin America to sever ties with Israel since the outbreak of the war following the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
At the time, Israel strongly criticized the Bolivian government’s decision as a “surrender to terrorism,” while Hamas welcomed the decision.
In October, Bolivians voted for a new center-right government led by Paz Pereira, ending nearly 20 years of socialist rule led by Morales and Arce Catacora.
Sa’ar announced on Monday that the two countries would resume diplomatic relations.
Bolivia previously severed diplomatic relations with Israel in 2009 under former leftist President Evo Morales.
Diplomatic relations between Bolivia and Israel remained severed until they were reinstated in November 2019 by an interim right-wing government, the former president Luis Arce Catacora took over the presidential election in 2020.
