Gaza Genocide is Trial Run for Suppressing Global Dissent – Colombian President
Colombian President Gustavo Petro speaks to supporters before presenting to Congress a proposed bill to reform the healthcare system
John MilesIsrael has traditionally been viewed with suspicion in Latin America due to its role in the imposition of dictatorships across the region amid the US-backed Operation Condor.Colombian President Gustavo Petro denounced Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip Monday, warning that it could serve as a model for repressing global dissent in the years to come.“What is happening in Gaza is not merely a decades-long conflict between Palestinians, the owners of the territory, and the Israelis that the English Europeans brought to their colony,” the Latin American head of state claimed in a post on the X social media platform. “In Gaza there is an experiment of world power against a people of the south.”Israel has traditionally been viewed critically in Latin America due to its role in the imposition of dictatorships across the region amid the US-backed Operation Condor. Using similar language to the modern “war on terror,” governments throughout the region cracked down on dissent using torture, assassinations and military force.Israel was crucial in perpetuating the campaign of violence, training security forces throughout the continent as well as supplying arms. When Congressional legislation prevented the United States from shipping equipment directly to repressive regimes Israel provided a convenient workaround, allowing the State Department to covertly funnel weapons to the region.The Brazilian dictatorship was one of the most important recipients of Israeli support, as was the apartheid regime in South Africa.“The experiment [in Gaza] aims to demonstrate that the military power of the US, Europe and Israel can dominate any rebellion in the poor world,” Petro continued. “They know that the climate crisis will stir up the entire South, because it is not produced by the South, but they will suffer the consequences more greatly, and they are preparing for a global barbarism where democracy will die.”“It is the barbarism of the global plutocracy that refuses to stop the fossil economy on which it bases its wealth,” he concluded. “Another world is possible, of course, but it will depend on the union of all the excluded peoples and the progressive peoples of the north.”Last week the Central American country of Nicaragua severed relations with Israel, joining Petro’s Colombia, Bolivia, Cuba and Venezuela. Other countries such as Chile have recalled their ambassadors to the state.
WorldNicaragua Severing Diplomatic Ties With Israel – Vice President12 October, 04:31 GMT
