New Paraguay leader to reopen Jerusalem embassy within year, Israel says

Paraguay’s new president Santiago Peña will reopen the country’s embassy in Jerusalem, in a move that will see Israel reopen its embassy in Asunción, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen announced on Wednesday, ostensibly bringing an end to a rift sparked five years earlier.

Cohen made the announcement following a brief meeting with Peña, following his swearing-in Tuesday. Cohen said he invited the president to visit Israel within the year to dedicate the new mission and Peña accepted.

If Peña does follow through, Paraguay will be the fifth country to open an embassy in Jerusalem, following Kosovo, Honduras, Guatemala and the US; Israel sees the moves as strengthening its claim to the city as its capital, though most foreign countries situate their embassies in or around Tel Aviv.

In 2018, Paraguay’s outgoing president Horacio Cartes announced that his country would open an embassy in Jerusalem, following similar moves by the US and Guatemala.

But the embassy was moved back to Tel Aviv after just five months by Cartes’s successor Abdo Benitez, who said he hadn’t been consulted in the original decision and indicated that it harmed efforts to maintain a more neutral approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fumed at the decision and moved to have Israel’s embassy in Asunción closed in retaliation.

During the presidential campaign, Peña pledged to reopen Paraguay’s embassy in Jerusalem.

The economist easily won election earlier this year, keeping the long-ruling Colorado Party in power for five more years.

Peña, 44, took the presidential oath outside the government palace in Asunción Tuesday in a ceremony attended by several regional leaders and other dignitaries, including Cohen, who briefly met the new Paraguay leader, the Foreign Ministry said.

“We’re continuing to strengthen the international status of Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the State of Israel,” Cohen said in a statement announcing the move, adding that Peña agreed to visit Israel by the end of the for the reinauguration of the embassy.

“The opening of the Paraguayan embassy in Jerusalem along with the Israeli embassy in Asuncion will strengthen Israel’s regional and international position as well as the important ties between the countries. We will continue and strengthen the important historical connection with the countries of Latin America, which have long stood by the State of Israel and the Jewish people,” Cohen said.

There was no immediate word from Peña or his office confirming that he had decided to uphold the campaign pledge to return his country’s embassy to Jerusalem.

Israel did not announce a timeline for reopening the embassy in Asunción.

Israel considers Jerusalem to be its capital, including East Jerusalem, which it annexed in 1980. The move has not been recognized by most of the international community, which says the final borders of the city should be decided in negotiations with the Palestinians. Israel still has relations with those nearly 100 countries but they all have kept their embassies in Tel Aviv.

Former president Donald Trump became the first world leader to move his country’s embassy to Jerusalem in 2018 in what Israel hoped would lead to a flood of countries to follow suit, though that has yet to happen.

The 44-year-old Peña became the youngest ruler of the democratic era in Paraguay and is considered the heir of Cartes, who made the initial decision to the country’s embassy to Jerusalem five years ago.

Both politicians — as well as Benitez — headed the conservative Colorado Party, and Peña hailed Cartes in his inauguration speech Tuesday “for his perseverance and patience to build consensus.”

The remarks were likely unwelcome by the US, which has accused Cartes of involvement in “significant corruption.”

The US government says he bribed government officials and legislators and had ties to people who raise money for the Hezbollah terror group.

In his speech, Peña’s focused on ties with Taiwan, as its Vice President William Lai looked on.

Peña said Paraguay and Taiwan are “not just allies, but also brothers,” he said.

Paraguay is the only country in South America, and a member of a dwindling group of 12 governments around the world, to have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. It lost a key ally in the region earlier this year when Honduras cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

Taiwan had become a thorny issue during Paraguay’s presidential campaign as Peña’s main challenger argued the alliance had become too costly because it prevented the small country from pursuing business opportunities with China.

The Associated Press contributed to this report