Celinda Sosa, Bolivian Foreign Minister, Sept 25, 2024 Photo: UN

United Nations, September 26 (RHC)-- Bolivian Foreign Minister Celinda Sosa, on behalf of the Bolivian government, reaffirmed on Wednesday at the UN General Assembly her country's support for countries sanctioned with “unilateral” measures such as Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, and also expressed “full support” for the self-determination of Palestine.

Sosa maintained that Bolivia recognizes the international community “as a space of solidarity and cooperation under the principles of international law and the Charter of the United Nations,” and therefore rejects “unilateral coercive measures which violate the most basic human rights and delay the development of many peoples.”

“We express our solidarity with Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and all the countries of the world that unjustly suffer these unilateral sanctions,” she said.  The Bolivian foreign minister also expressed the “most emphatic rejection of the economic, financial and commercial blockade by the United States” against Cuba, an “injustice” that “is aggravated when the United States unilaterally” incorporates the island “on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism”.

Sosa lamented that the “occupation, forced displacements and genocide” have led Palestine to “devastation and destruction, creating an open-air prison for thousands and thousands of people, mainly children and women.”

For the Bolivian foreign minister, peace and security in Palestine “will not be achieved without a real commitment to respect for human rights and an end to genocide.”

For this reason, she reaffirmed Bolivia’s “full support” for the “self-determination and independence of Palestine” and expressed her wish that it “should soon be established as a full state in the United Nations Assembly.”

The top diplomat also referred to Bolivia’s centenary maritime claim against Chile, which was brought in 2013 by the Andean country before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague.

Bolivia was looking for a ruling that would force Chile to negotiate firm sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean, which it lost in a war in 1879, but in 2018 the UN court ruled that the Chilean state has no legal obligation to do so.

Sosa pointed out that the court urged in its ruling that both nations engage in dialogue and assured that her country “is ready to enter into dialogue when its counterpart agrees.

“We are sure that with the support and accompaniment of all of you, we will maintain and strengthen our democracy and the institutionality of our country,” added Sosa, who earlier denounced to the G20 the “destabilization attempts” against the Bolivian government.