Last month, the Times of Israel wrote that Israel was having a “moment” in Latin America. And unfortunately, they’re not exactly wrong. As of August this year, 12 countries in the region have right and far-right governments, many of whom are staunch supporters of Israel and eager to renew relations. However, in the court of public opinion, Israel’s full scale invasion of Gaza and its coinciding genocide of the Palestinian people has caused an unprecedented international amount of resentment towards the state.
According to a recent survey conducted in 36 countries this year by the Pew Research Center, a good majority of Latin Americans harbor a negative view toward Israel, with percentages at 59 and 60 per cent for Mexico and Chile respectively. The current unfavourable view Chileans have of the Israeli state seems to contradict the election of Jose Antonio Kast in Chile — with Kast a staunch supporter of Israel. Pew also conducted a similar survey in 2025 on 24 countries, and when comparing the two studys, public opinion of Israel has generally only worsened.
Part of the answer as to why Latin Americans are critical of Israel may lie in its status as a post-colonial region. As Professor Erick Viramonte writes in an article for The Middle East Council on Global Affairs, Israel’s invasion of Gaza and oppression of the Palestinians could ring familiar for those who fought against imperialism in the Global South and their descendants. However, while anti-imperalist sentiment is certainly present, reporter Jake McGrath argues that Israel’s direct involvement in aiding many of the brutal authoritarian regimes that populated Latin America’s past, may be another significant factor.
During the Cold War, Israel was the biggest supplier of arms to the Argentinian dictatorship, sending the Junta an estimated one billion dollars in fighter jets, air-to-air missiles, radar, and fuel tanks. This same regime would, from the period of 1978-1983, would disappear an estimated 30,000 people — of which according to the official list of the 10,000 dead, at least 12 per cent of that number were Jewish Argentinians.
Despite this, there has been a general rise in Latin American governments that are favourable towards Israel, such as with the recent elections in Chile and Colombia. This contradicts the research conducted by Pew which shows a lack of support from the general public. And these renewed relations come as a relief to Israel for what has been a fairly universal and well deserved diplomatic battering of the country as it continues its genocide on Palestine.
The Colombian Presidential elections concluded on August 7, with far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella claiming victory and replacing the previous socialist government under Gustavo Petro. Petro saw Colombia halt arms trade with Israel following the assault of Gaza and supporting the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for Prime Minister Netanyahu, and completely halted coal exports to Israel. But recently, the Espriella government moved quickly to shift Petro’s anti-Israel policy, towards a relationship marked by Colombia’s recognition of Israel’s illegal occupation of the Golan Heights in Syria as a legitimate claim. In the Pew survey, 56 per cent of participants in Colombia answered unfavourably towards Israel, with only 29 per cent viewing the country very favourably.
The recent election of these right-wing leaders marks a departure from the pro-Palestinian wave that saw several Latin American countries form and join the Hague Group, a global body dedicated to upholding international law and support the people of Palestine. The bloc is chaired by Colombia and South Africa, and used to host several more members from Latin America. However, Bolivia and Honduras’ newly elected right-wing leadership has withdrawn the countries from the bloc, and with the recent Colombian elections it remains to be seen whether the group will survive. The Hague Group had planned on moving from public condemnation of Israel and support of Palestine to concrete action which involved coordinating to fulfill the ICC warrant for the arrest of Netanyahu, it remains to be seen what will happen with the Group now..
Colombia’s elected government has become the latest in a string of right-wing governments across Latin America, and I believe this should have coincided with a general and public rise in support for Israel. But when we look at the polling numbers there’s a very different story being told. Why is public opinion for Israel so low, when it seems to be a top priority of many of these recently elected governments? I have a notion, that given Israel and the United States’ history of interference with Latin American politics, there might be something more dangerous and permanent happening, and it remains to be seen whether this is just a passing wave, or a new pattern.
