Latinos in Iran and Israel Enduring a “War Between Governments”
by carlos matías
March began with 15 countries involved in the war in Iran, and although there are no official data on the Latin American population in the area, we know that it’s mainly concentrated in Dubai and Qatar due to job opportunities. SOL DE MEDIANOCHE has contacted three of these Latin Americans in two of the contending countries, Iran and Israel, on an “urgent” basis. These are their testimonies and experiences.
Young Peruvian Andrea Bisso fell in love and eight years ago that love took her to Tel Aviv. A year later, religion encouraged Bolivian journalist Roberto Vera to travel to the “great Persian homeland.” Before that, Argentine doctor Miguel Glatsein moved to Tel Aviv. Andrea, Roberto, and Miguel don’t know each other. But they all agree that this war “is not between people, but between governments.”
Governments such as those of Netanyahu (Israel) and Trump (United States), allies in attacking Iran. And governments such as that of Pezeshkian, who, under his “supreme leader” Khamenei, says he’ll “destroy Israel.” “Governments, not peoples,” they say. But with nuances. “We have no problems with the Iranians, and neither do they with us, the Jews,” Argentine doctor Miguel Glatstein tells Sol de Medianoche.
Glatstein was studying medicine in Buenos Aires in 1994 with twenty Palestinian classmates. On March 17 of that year, the city suffered an attack on the Israeli embassy, leaving 22 dead and 250 wounded. The next day, the Palestinian students disappeared. They were never seen again. Miguel claims that they were the terrorists. “Despite that,” he says, “I don’t agree with the killings in Gaza, or with the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 civilians, or with this war. My vocation as a doctor is to save lives. I am not in favor of Netanyahu.”
Bolivian journalist Roberto Vera, who converted to Islam in Cochabamba, speaks to us from Qom, an important religious city in Iran. “We don’t hate Jews. We are not anti-Semitic; we’re anti-Zionist.” (Zionism is an Israeli nationalist policy against Palestine. Anti-Zionism opposes that supremacist political ideology. Semitism is common to Arabs and Jews with Semitic languages and a similar culture. Anti-Semitism opposes this culture and discriminates against the Jewish people.)
“I converted to Islam in Bolivia, and one of Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s visits to Evo Morales encouraged me to come and see the great Persian homeland. The Iranian people support the Islamic Revolution. If some were opposed, the attacks by the United States and Israel have united us. We’re all Persians. We don’t have time to cry; it’s time to fight. The battle continues.”
“Let us live in peace!” asks Andrea Bisso, a young Peruvian content creator married to an Israeli. “This is a war of survival. Life in Tel Aviv goes on with a certain normality, but the missile sirens sound.” One of these alarms interrupts the conversation. Andrea must go to a bunker. Our chat will continue, just as this tragic war will, unfortunately, do too.
