During her swearing-in yesterday, Monday, the new Bolivian Foreign Minister Celinda Sosa pledged to continue defending the Palestinian cause.

This comes weeks after Bolivia severed its diplomatic relations with Israel at the end of last October in condemnation of the aggression against the Gaza Strip.

Sousa indicated during the constitutional swearing-in ceremony in the presence of leftist President Luis Arce that, through her new position, she will continue to defend the Palestinian people.

Sosa said: “From the Bolivian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we will continue to defend the Palestinian people and their right to self-determination and build their free, independent and sovereign state.”

After severing diplomatic relations with Israel, in response to the bloody bombing campaign launched by the occupation against civilians in the Gaza Strip since October 7, the Israeli Foreign Ministry issued a statement criticizing the Bolivian decision.

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs described La Paz's decision as "submission to terrorism... surrender to Iran, and shameful support for Hamas." The statement noted that since the change in government in Bolivia, bilateral relations between the two parties have witnessed a severe cooling.

Like Bolivia, the Kingdom of Belize, a Caribbean country, announced the severing of its diplomatic relations with Israel in the middle of this month.

Colombia, Chile and Honduras also recalled their ambassadors from Tel Aviv for consultations against the backdrop of the ongoing Israeli aggression against Gaza.

The new Bolivian Minister of Foreign Affairs is 60 years old and took over the ministry in succession to lawyer Rogelio Maita, who resigned from his position to become a judge in the Court of the Andean Community of Nations, an organization on the American continent whose goal is to create a common market.

In 1983, Sosa participated in establishing the Union of Peasant Women in the southern province of Tarija, before assuming the presidency of the “Unified Union of Peasants of Bolivia,” which is considered one of the most prominent unions in the country.

Between 2006 and 2007, Sosa served as Minister of Production under President Evo Morales (2006-2019), who is descended from the country's indigenous population.