La Paz, February 5 (RHC)-- Bolivia’s de-facto government has announced it will re-establish diplomatic relations with Israel after 11 years. “Israel returns to Bolivia and Bolivia returns to Israel,” Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon announced, while the confirmation was made official after coup leader Jeanine Añez met in La Paz with Israel’s Ambassador to Peru Asaf Ichilevich.
Exiled President Evo Morales, currently a political refugee in Argentina, broke off relations with the Jewish state after the Gaza Massacre, a three-week Israeli offensive against the besieged strip that began on December 27, 2008 and ended nearly a month later on January 18, 2009, which resulted in the death of over 1,400 Palestinians, including 333 children.
Evo Morales said that Israel is a terrorist state and repealed a migratory agreement and visa waiver. However, Añez’s government has returned to align the Andean nation with Washington’s dictates.
On January 23rd, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale announced that the U.S. government will send an ambassador to Bolivia for the first time in more than a decade to "restore normal relations."
A day later, Bolivia's coup government headed by Añez suspended diplomatic relations with Cuba adding to the U.S.’s pressure against the island.