Bolivia’s relationship with Iran is a ‘bad sign’ amid Tehran’s attacks on Israel

The cooperation agreement signed by the governments of Bolivia and Iran in July 2023 still generates noise in the region and even more so now that Tehran decided to attack Israel. Experts see that Luis Arce’s government and its image as a country are being eroded by the relationship it maintains with Iran and also with Venezuela. The opposition will ask to know to what extent the bilateral pact on defense and security signed last year is being fulfilled.

This is a memorandum of understanding to expand bilateral cooperation in the field of security and defense. and has the signature of the Minister of Defense, Edmundo Novillo, and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Reza Ashtiani. This agreement was signed last year and raised controversy in the region, but much more so in the Argentine Republic, which asked Bolivia for explanations.

It is ideological affinities that decide allies and adversaries. Iran, which has been in the world’s attention for its growing tensions with Israel, has found an ally in Bolivia since 2007when former presidents Evo Morales (Bolivia) and Mahmud Ahmadinejad (Iran) put bilateral relations back on track.

Mahmud Ahmadinejad arrived in La Paz in September 2007. At that time Bolivia was the only country in all of South America that did not have an embassy for the Middle Eastern nation. Diplomatic relations were broken and talks had been stalled for years. That visit changed everything. In a meeting held by Morales and Ahmadinejad, they inaugurated the Iranian diplomatic headquarters in La Paz and signed a series of agreements.

Cooperation in hydrocarbons, energy, agriculture and industry were part of the commitments. Shortly after that meeting, the Iranian diplomat based in La Paz, Hojjatollah Soltani, announced that in addition to the opening of the diplomatic headquarters, the “Radio and Television of Iran” would be created in Bolivian territory, which is now the Abya Yala television company.

And so time passed. Iran installed a hospital in the city of El Alto, He invested millionaire funds in universities and research centers and expanded his embassy until it became one of the most important. Even that diplomatic legation has more officials than Iran’s in Spain or Italy.

Bolivia and Iran, in July 2023, signed an agreement again. This is the memorandum of bilateral cooperation in security and defense. “Those who wanted to mention that my trip to Iran could represent a risk, a threat to peace, For the region, I believe that this is a fantastic fallacy without limits or with purely political interests,” Minister Novillo stated in July 2023 after signing the agreement with Iran.

For Andrés Guzmán, an expert in international issues, the relationships that Bolivia maintains with Iran and the statements issued by defense authorities of that relationship constitute “a bad sign” to the world.

“We do not need to integrate or be so aligned with Iran, which is a country with which we have practically no commercial relations. We are totally aligned and that is a very bad sign for other markets.countries where we can take advantage,” said Guzmán.

Meanwhile, Jaime Aparicio, former Bolivian ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS)expressed his concern about Bolivian relations with countries that violate human rights and that they are authoritarian regimes.

“Iran’s presence in central South America and the signing of strategic agreements are not clear.” of a military type in Latin America through Bolivia, that is very worrying,” said Aparicio.

Last Tuesday night, Iran attacked Israel with 180 missiles. That country announced a harsh response.