As Israel’s genocide in Gaza continues, Nicaragua’s president Daniel Ortega has made a statement declaring that Nicaragua will be cutting all diplomatic ties with Israel. This action was largely symbolic considering that Nicaragua had no official Israeli ambassador and little to no relationship with Israel prior to this decision. The intended effect of this action was to send a message to Israel that their genocide of the Palestinians will not be tolerated by other countries—a message echoed by many other Latin American states as of recently, including Colombia who also cut ties with Israel in May.
Most of Latin America has taken actions or made statements to show support for Palestine—Bolivia, Colombia, and Chile, for example, have all joined the ICJ case against Israel. It is unusual for these Latin American countries to be taking such a strong stance on the opposing side from the U.S, which has close relations with Israel. Historically, the United States has had a heavy influence on Latin American governments and foreign policy, especially after the Cold War. However, Latin America has become more politically and financially independent in recent years, leading to new motivations behind the region’s politics. Nicaragua in particular is acting in support of not only Palestine but also Iran, one of their close allies and a rival of Israel.
Though this event alone doesn’t warrant much of a response from either country, it is a part of a larger international movement condemning the Israeli attacks on Gaza. A growing number of countries across the globe are taking action against Israel, symbolic or otherwise, to show their disapproval of the attacks. Many of these countries’ statements share the same main point: Israel is not fighting a war but committing a genocide. It would be in Israel’s best interest at this point to consider whether it is worth it to continue fighting when there is so much international pushback.
The countries that disapprove of Israel’s actions could potentially send troops into Israel and use force to stop the fighting, but they instead choose to use diplomatic actions, like cutting relations with Israel or joining the ICJ case, to encourage Israel to stop on their own. This is because using force does not support any of these countries’ national interest—the cost would be higher than the reward. Another example of countries acting in their own national interest is the Latin American countries choosing to move away from following America’s lead in foreign policy matters. As the unipolar system weakens, America’s influence becomes less important, so it is in the Latin American countries’ national interest to act on their own interests separately from America.