Chilean President Boric commits to open embassy in Ramallah

Chile already has a diplomatic representation in Ramallah, but not a full embassy.

 Chile's President-elect Gabriel Boric celebrates with supporters after winning the presidential election in Santiago, Chile, December 19, 2021 (photo credit: REUTERS/RODRIGO GARRIDO)
Chile's President-elect Gabriel Boric celebrates with supporters after winning the presidential election in Santiago, Chile, December 19, 2021
(photo credit: REUTERS/RODRIGO GARRIDO)

Chilean President Gabriel Boric announced that his country would open an embassy in Ramallah, during a Christmas party with Palestinians in Santiago on Wednesday.

"We cannot forget a community that is suffering from an illegal occupation, a community that is resisting, a community that is seeing its rights and dignity violated every day and that this is absolutely justified, that must be said in all its words," said Boric at the event, according to local media.

"I agree that words of good upbringing are not enough and one of the decisions we have as a government, I think we had not made it public -I am taking a risk with this-, is that we are going to raise the level of the official representation in Palestine from the chargé d'affaires that exists today and we are going to open an embassy during our government to give it the corresponding representation".

Chile already has a diplomatic representation in Ramallah, but not a full embassy.

 Supporters of Chilean presidential candidate Gabriel Boric celebrate after their candidate won the presidential election, in Santiago, Chile, December 19, 2021. (credit: REUTERS/IVAN ALVARADO)
Supporters of Chilean presidential candidate Gabriel Boric celebrate after their candidate won the presidential election, in Santiago, Chile, December 19, 2021. (credit: REUTERS/IVAN ALVARADO)

In September, Boric refused to accept the credentials of Israeli Ambassador Gil Artzyeli for two weeks in protest against the IDF's operations in the West Bank.