Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, right, shakes hands with Bolivian President Evo Morales in Caracas, Venezuela, on Sept. 23. (Miraflores Palace/Reuters) (HANDOUT/Reuters)
U.S. presidents always grab headlines for their annual speeches at the U.N. General Assembly, and this year is no different. But President Trump’s main event may actually come Wednesday, when he chairs a meeting of the U.N. Security Council.
Trump will have to contend with obvious rivals such as China and Russia, as well as disillusioned allies such as Britain and France. But there’s also a wild card in the mix: Evo Morales, Bolivia’s leftist president.
Bolivia joined the Security Council for a two-year term in 2017. Five seats on the Security Council, the most powerful U.N. organ, are permanent and given to major powers: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. The remaining 10 seats are given to other U.N. members on a rotating basis.
Bolivia has been extremely critical of U.S. foreign policy since Morales took office in 2006. In 2008, it expelled the U.S. ambassador there and threw out American departments such as the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Drug Enforcement Administration. And few leaders have been as openly critical of Trump as Morales, who has said he thinks the U.S. president has “mental problems” and racist attitudes toward Latin Americans.
Over the past 21 months, Bolivia has used its Security Council seat to needle the United States. In March, Bolivia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Sacha Llorenti, read the names of 61 Palestinians killed by Israeli troops during violence in the Gaza Strip at about the same time that the United States moved its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Llorenti said Bolivia wants to use its Security Council seat to protect the U.N. Charter from Trump’s ramped-up attacks. “The United States uses multilateralism and the United Nations as someone would use a lemon: They squeeze it as much as they can, and when they don’t use it, they throw it away,” he said.
Wednesday will be the first time since 2014 that the Security Council meeting will be held at the level of head of state or government, meaning that Morales, not Llorenti, will represent his country. Some experts predict a showdown. “I suspect that Morales will definitely use the meeting as an opportunity to take on Trump,” said Santiago Anria, a professor of Latin American politics at Dickinson College.
Anria said the Bolivian leader may bring up some of his major disagreements with Washington, including on U.S. unilateralism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and alleged American intervention in the affairs of nations such as Venezuela. Morales remains allies with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who is a frequent target of the Trump administration’s criticism.
However, Morales is not likely to try to out-Trump Trump. “He’s not the fiery provocateur of Chávez in his prime,” said Ivan Briscoe, Latin America program director for the International Crisis Group, referring to late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez. “He’s a very serious man. Very committed — and very ideological.”
“He might make a few pointed comments,” Briscoe added. “But I don’t think they’ll be throwing the cutlery at each other.”
Bolivia, a “nonaligned” country, will probably be in step with the rest of the council against the United States on Wednesday. The meeting is widely expected to focus on Iran. European allies such as Britain and France have criticized Trump for pulling out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, while China and Russia also oppose the U.S. policy. All four countries are signatories to the agreement.
But some analysts wonder whether larger countries will lean on Morales to hold his fire. “Nobody wants to be the U.N. equivalent of the annoying teenager at Thanksgiving dinner who starts banging on about injustice,” said Richard Gowan, a senior fellow at the United Nations University, a global-affairs think tank. “If I were working on this in Beijing and Moscow, I’d be urging Bolivia to keep calm and let the Americans, British and French argue over Iran in public.”
Llorenti, the diplomat, said the Bolivian government had not discussed tactics with other countries and was instead focused on doing what was best for the United Nations.
“I cannot tell you exactly what our president will say,” he said. “But for us it’s very important to analyze the root causes of conflicts in the Middle East.”
Read more
Why some Latin American countries are rushing to open Jerusalem embassies, too
As socialist Venezuela collapses, socialist Bolivia thrives. Here’s why.
Evo Morales wants to change the law so he can remain president. Is Bolivia’s democracy in danger?
Credit:Washington Post
via USAHint.com
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