GOVERNMENTS in Latin America have been at the forefront of opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and several of those which have done so suddenly face new threats, even including attempted coups. “Anybody who stands with Palestine is going to be attacked in Latin America by the US and by zionists,” said Adrienne Pine of the California Institute of Integral Studies, in a recent webinar.

Recent events appear to show the truth of her remarks, especially in the case of three governments in the region which have strongly opposed Israel’s genocidal war — Nicaragua, Honduras and Colombia. All are suffering attacks that appear to be either in direct retaliation for their actions or which suspiciously coincide with them. 

Israel’s ties with Latin America are longstanding. Israel has often backed repressive regimes or undermined progressive governments. It trained death squads in El Salvador and supplied the arms used to massacre Guatemalan campesinos.

In Nicaragua, it armed the “Contra” forces that attempted to overthrow the Sandinista revolution in the 1980s. In Honduras, it helped prevent president Mel Zelaya from returning to power after he was ousted in the 2009 coup. 

Nicaragua is a ‘platform for terrorism’

Israel’s history means it is well placed to retaliate when Latin American governments attack it as genocidal. Nicaragua was the first to join the action taken by South Africa in bringing Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the beginning of this year. Then it took its own ICJ case against Germany, for supplying arms to Israel. Most recently, on October 11, President Daniel Ortega announced the breaking of diplomatic relations with Israel, calling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “son of the devil” and comparing him to Hitler.

The attempted retribution was swift. Four days after Ortega’s speech, the Israeli consul in neighbouring Costa Rica, Amir Rockman, claimed that “radical Iranian forces and terror groups operate freely” in Nicaragua, although he was not asked for, nor did he provide, any evidence. 

Given that some 3,000km separate Nicaragua from the US border, the usefulness to a “terror group” of being able to operate in a small Central American country is far from clear.

Then Mijal Gur-Aryeh, Israel’s ambassador in Costa Rica, told La Prensa that “Nicaragua had been converted into a platform for terrorism in the region.” A few days later she added that Hezbollah had “bases” in Venezuela and Bolivia as well as Nicaragua. As a result, one of the best-known opponents of Nicaragua’s Sandinista government, Felix Maradiaga, called for the Sandinista party to be declared a terrorist organisation, saying this would hit Nicaragua’s economy but that this “temporary sacrifice” would be worthwhile.

Nicaragua’s Sandinista government rejected Israel’s allegations on October 21. While there is, as of yet, no evidence that Israel’s claims have resonance in Washington, if Nicaragua were to be designated a “state sponsor of terrorism” (SSOT) the effects could be very serious, potentially doing even more harm to its economy than the current raft of US sanctions,

An SSOT designation also gives licence to US and other Western law enforcement agencies to persecute those working in solidarity with a listed country, as has already happened to those supporting Palestine (with solidarity groups often falsely accused of supporting Hamas).

A new ‘coup attempt’ in Honduras?

Israel heavily supported the neoliberal regime that ran Honduras from 2009 until the Libre party finally ousted it in the 2021 election. This included sending $342 million worth of military equipment. In a reversal of her predecessor’s policy, progressive President Xiomara Castro, has expressed strong support for Palestine.

In September, at the UN general assembly, she condemned the genocide in Gaza. In what was seen by Washington as a further provocation, Honduras was one of the first countries in Latin America to recognise Nicolas Maduro’s victory in Venezuela’s July 28 election. 

Following both these moves, Castro has come under intense pressure which, she says, amounts to an attempted coup. Castro herself has direct experience of a coup, since it was her husband, Mel Zelaya, who was deposed as president in 2009 by the US-backed military and forced out of the country. It is hardly surprising that she is alert to the possibility of a second one.

Who orchestrated the coup attempt? Suspicion falls on Washington’s ambassador in Tegucigalpa, Laura Dogu, who has a track record in this respect, when she was the ambassador in Nicaragua prior to the 2018 coup attempt. 

Dogu has tried to paint Honduras’s links with Venezuela as related to drug trafficking, and fuel was added to this fire by the publication of a video showing a drug baron in discussion with Castro’s brother-in-law, allegedly about providing election campaign funding. The video was released by Insight Crime, a think tank funded by USAid, the Open Society Foundation and similar bodies allied with Washington.

While Xiomara Castro’s victory in the 2021 election was decisive, and she still enjoys strong working-class support, there are abundant risks to her presidency. She faces a tumultuous congress, her vice-president resigned and is now her opponent, and both the military and the police forces are still contaminated by the corruption and impunity they enjoyed under previous neoliberal governments. 

Castro has not yet been able to break the strong links between the Honduran military and Israel (much less its links with the US). Indeed, it was revealed in April that Honduras was still buying Israeli military equipment of the kind used in Gaza, and that Honduran police officers have received training in Israel. The news came from the Israeli ambassador, presumably intended to embarrass Castro.

Colombia: ‘The coup has begun’

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has denounced the Israeli regime as “genocidal” and described its actions in Gaza as comparable to Auschwitz. He broke diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv in May this year, provoking an immediate call from Washington urging him to change his mind. 

As part of a major backlash, Washington later said “We cannot accept this. We cannot tolerate this” and the US ambassador in Bogota labelled Petro anti-semitic.

Nevertheless, like Xiomara Castro, Petro doubled down on his stance when he spoke at the UN general assembly, saying: “When Gaza dies, all of humanity will die.” 

On October 1, Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro warned of a planned coup in Colombia, accusing its former president Ivan Duque of working with Washington to carry it out. Then on October 9, President Petro claimed that “the coup had begun”, citing the attempt by the National Electoral Council to bring his presidency to an end via an investigation into alleged illegalities in his election campaign finances, allegations which he strongly contests.

It then emerged that, not long before the last election, Petro’s predecessor Duque purchased Israeli Pegasus software and used it to spy on political opponents. While this leak (like the similar one in Honduras) may have been intended to remind Petro of his military’s continuing connections with Israel, it appears to have backfired. Petro has accused Duque of using state money illegally and of money laundering, citing as evidence that half of the $11 billion payment was unaccountably sent to Israel by plane, in cash. Nevertheless, the news strengthened the impression that Petro, like previous presidents, is surrounded by corruption.

Israel is a formidable foe, and not only on the battlefield. The Guardian revealed its nine-year surveillance and intimidation of no less a body than the International Criminal Court. At the moment, hard evidence of Israeli attempts to undermine progressive Latin American governments is limited, but the potential is obvious. It is likely to be most effective against governments whose political position is precarious, such as in Honduras and Colombia. 

Petro perfectly understands the reasons why so few countries have so far stood firmly against Israel’s genocide. In a discussion with other progressive Latin American leaders, he said that the Western powers are giving a warning to the rest of humanity: “What happens to Palestine will happen to any of you, if you dare make changes without our permission.”