Almost all of South America rejected the intervention of Libya

March 21, 2011

The presidents of Bolivia, Ecuador and Uruguay joined their counterparts from Brazil, Paraguay and Venezuela (and the foreign minister of Argentina) to reject the military intervention of NATO in Libya.

Bolivia

Evo Morales, Bolivia’s president, called for “an immediate halt to the invasion and armed assault to Libya” and for the creation of an international commission to seek a diplomatic solution to the civil war that crosses the country.

“You can not defend human rights by violating human rights,” Morales said, regarding the authorization of UN intervention and the subsequent bombing of homes and hospitals by the United States, the UK and France.

Ecuador

Meanwhile, Rafael Correa, Ecuador’s president, said: “We shall when they bomb Saudi Arabia” for their alliance with the United States, and lamented that “humanity did not learn anything from the past.”

He called the intervening countries “the same countries” and requested that they allow Libyans to “solve their own problems.”

Correa recalled the start of the invasion of Iraq. “Remember that it were false reports which led to the United Nation’s approval. As in the case of Libya, the only thing the United Nations adopted was the no-fly zone, “he said.

In addition, the president was ironic about the U.S. response to certain Arab countries. “In Saudi Arabia there are no elections, but a hard monarchy. They say that Iran does not respect human rights under Islamic law, but in Saudi Arabia it is three times stronger, we shall see when they bomb Saudi Arabia,” he said.

Uruguay

Finally, José Mujica said the attack of NATO aircrafts is “an inexplicable contradiction.”

“The cure is worse than the disease”, said President of Uruguay, adding that saving lives with bombings is an inexplicable contradiction.”

Thus, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela were positioned against the U.S., Britain and France military intervention in Libya. Chile joined the side of those countries, while Peru and Colombia issued no opinions yet.