Foreign Minister Enrique Iglesias confirmed that President Julio Sanguinetti will visit Israel next month and will also visit the United Nations peace-keeping force in the Sinai, of which Uruguay is part. “As a symbol of this adherence Uruguay stands for peace, Uruguay stands for Israel and this will always be so,” Iglesias told a B’nai B’rith forum here last week.
The Foreign Minister, who was keynote speaker in B’nai B’rith District 25’s first monthly speakers forum of the year, assured his audience that his nation will not alter its friendship with Israel despite the fact that Uruguay will open up to the Third World.
Iglesias, a noted economist who for many years has served as executive head of the Economic Commission for Latin America of the United Nations, explained that Uruguay and other Latin American countries had to begin “establishing relationships and doing business with all nations” if they were to solve their economic crisis. “But,” he emphasized, “this does not mean that there is even the slightest change in our traditional friendship with Israel.”
B’nai B’rith International’s assistant director for South America, Alfredo Neuburger, reported that the Foreign Minister’s speech was warmly received by the audience that included presidents of Jewish umbrella organizations and the Zionist Federation. Neuburger noted that the forum was highlighted “by the fact that B’nai B’rith of Uruguay this year celebrates its 50th anniversary of vital activity in this South American country.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
