Fatima Nieves is a self-described “Lebtina.” With a Lebanese mother and a Mexican father, the 26-year-old nurse was raised at the intersection of both cultures and, as a result, finds herself deeply invested in Latin American and Arab current events.
So Nieves has been emotionally distraught since October 7, 2023, when the militant Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise assault on Israel at the Supernova music festival near kibbutz Re'im, killing approximately 1,200 people and taking 250 people hostage. That same day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced its war on Gaza, bombarding the densely populated Palestinian strip and killing more than 40,000 Palestinans in nearly one year, per Al Jazeera.
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When Hezbollah, a militant group based in Lebanon, launched a rocket campaign on Israel in support of Gaza on October 8, 2023, Nieves’ home country became involved in the conflict as well. Since then, more than 90,000 people in Lebanon have been displaced and 600 people killed, including around 30 top Hezbollah leaders. This week, Israel launched a ground offensive in Lebanon.
“It’s not just because I’m Lebanese and Mexican and my own family members have left Lebanon and Mexico because of violence and destabilization,” Nieves tells Refinery29 Somos. “I care because this is a human rights issue and innocent people are continuing to be killed, and that’s why there must be an immediate ceasefire in the region.”
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"It’s not just because I’m Lebanese and Mexican and my own family members have left Lebanon and Mexico because of violence and destabilization. I care because this is a human rights issue and innocent people are continuing to be killed, and that’s why there must be an immediate ceasefire in the region."
Fatima Nieves
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Nieves isn’t the only one to feel this way. According to an April poll from Axios-Ipsos and Noticias Telemundo, 40% of Latine adults say the U.S. should push for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and divestment from Israel.
But whether they descend from an Arab country like Nieves or not, many Latines see their culture and history as inherently interconnected with the Israel-Hamas War. As the presidential election approaches, these Latines are advocating for a ceasefire.
“It’s important to me because Honduras has such a big Palestinian community; almost 1 in 3 Hondurans I meet is Palestinian,” Tony Vara, the Latino Engagement Director for Gen Z for Change, tells Somos. “Once you get into the root of why there are so many Palestinians in Honduras, it shows you that this displacement has been going on for a very long time.”
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With an estimated half-million people of Palestinian descent, Latin America has the largest Palestinian population outside of the Middle East, according to the Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question. Palestinian migration to Latin America began in the mid-1800s, with Palestinian migrants fleeing to Chile during the Crimean War. Migration to Latin America has since continued, surging around periods of war, including the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, which resulted in a period of mass displacement of Palestinans known as The Nabka. Per the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA), Chile has the largest Palestinian community in Latin America with 500,000 people, “many of whom arrived after the Nabka.” Honduras and Colombia also have significant Palestinian communities, with 280,000 and 100,000 Palestinans respectively.
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"Once you get into the root of why there are so many Palestinians in Honduras, it shows you that this displacement has been going on for a very long time."
Tony Vara
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Vara, who is Honduran and Salvadoran, also notes that El Salvador’s current president, Nayib Bukele, is Palestinian through his paternal grandparents, who were Palestinian Christians who emigrated to El Salvador in the early 20th century, showing the inherent connection of the two countries and the diversity of sentiment regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict among Latines. While Bukele has denounced Hamas, he has not commented on Israel’s attacks on Gaza, per Middle East Eye. Bukele has also been criticized for striking medical and military deals with Israel shortly after taking office.
“I think some people think because a fair amount of Latinos are Catholic or Christian that they’re going to be blindly loyal to Israel,” Vara says. “But I’ve seen a lot of mutuals of mine, even people who grew up super religious say, ‘this isn’t the Israel we learned about in the Bible, so you can’t just assume, ‘oh they’re going to support Israel because they’re religious.’”
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Carlos Berríos-Polanco, a freelance journalist, is connected to the events in Gaza both because he has a friend who’s currently working there as an aid worker and because he sympathizes as a Puerto Rican who has witnessed the archipelago’s own colonial struggles under the U.S. government. “Regardless of my personal connection, to see the abject brutality and violence inflicted on these people gives you a human-to-human connection,” Berríos-Polanco says. “Palestine is a reflection of the pain and violence that’s been inflicted on Puerto Rico and other parts of the world.”
Organizing around a ceasefire
Graciela Sánchez, the director of Esperanza Peace and Justice Center — a multicultural, multiracial organization that advocates for social change — has been a part of many social movements in her work for the organization. In fact, the San Antonio-based organization she leads has supported Palestinian causes for years.
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"Regardless of my personal connection, to see the abject brutality and violence inflicted on these people gives you a human-to-human connection. Palestine is a reflection of the pain and violence that’s been inflicted on Puerto Rico and other parts of the world."
Carlos Berríos-Polanco
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That many young Latines are supporting Palestine is not too surprising given these communities have an established history of organizing.Throughout the 1980s and ‘90s, many Latines were part of a political movement whose goals included ending U.S. military and police aid to El Salvador and Guatemala, ending U.S. support for the Nicaraguan Contras, and preventing direct U.S. military intervention in Central America. In the 2000s, many also victoriously organized to stop the U.S. Navy from using Vieques, an inhabited Puerto Rican island, as a training ground for war.
Yet, the current war on Gaza has galvanized Latine youth in an unprecedented way, per Sánchez, in large part because Latines are becoming more attuned to how their cultural and political history is intertwined with that of Palestinian war refugees and other people from countries outside of Latin America. Although the circumstances and time frames of these various wars may be different, the political struggles resulting in displacement and death seem familiar to young Latines, Sánchez says.
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“Years ago, young students were organizing around the U.S.’ involvement in the Central American wars,” Sánchez says. “Young Latinos are saying this sounds familiar, things have not stopped when it comes to conquesting Indigenous communities and displacing and pushing people out. I think people see that connection, reading it as their own, the disaster, the bloodshed. They don’t like what has happened to us historically and they don’t want it to continue to other people.”
Sánchez cited the case of Aaron Bushnell, an active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force who set himself on fire outside the Israel Embassy in Washington, D.C., on February 25, 2024, while yelling, “Free Palestine.”
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"Young Latinos are saying this sounds familiar, things have not stopped when it comes to conquesting Indigenous communities and displacing and pushing people out."
Graciela Sánchez
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College students, in particular, have been leading pro-Palestinan efforts, with Latine students joining multicultural movements. Per Axios, some demonstrations have featured mariachi bands, Aztec dancers, and Latin American flags alongside the Palestinian flag. Artists are also supporting the cause; at the start of Latine Heritage Month, a group of creatives organized a fundraising show called Viva Falastina, with all its proceeds put toward relief efforts in Gaza. Other artists and organizations, like the band América Yanay, have also held fundraisers.
“For people who don’t really care about Palestine and Puerto Rico, the reality is if we don’t take a stand it’s going to come for them eventually, knowing the arc and history of colonialism,” Berríos-Polanco says. “Especially if you’re a U.S. citizen. What the U.S. did during the War on Terror has boomeranged back including programs where decommissioned military equipment gets passed down to U.S. police departments and has led to their militarization.”
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How will Latines show up at the polls?
The war on Gaza is undoubtedly a big concern for Latines, but many have expressed that they don’t feel either candidate best represents them on this issue. Pro-Palestinian groups have plans to protest at both candidates’ events near the anniversary of the war begginning, according to Reuters.
Per Vice President Kamala Harris’ website, “she and President Biden are working to end the war in Gaza … to get a hostage deal and a ceasefire deal done.” Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump, who has called himself “the most pro-Israel president ever,” doesn’t mention Palestine by name on his platform, but says he will work to “restore peace in Europe and the Middle East.” Both candidates evaded concrete responses as to how the U.S. would end the war in Gaza during the presidential debate in September.
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"For people who don’t really care about Palestine and Puerto Rico, the reality is if we don’t take a stand it’s going to come for them eventually, knowing the arc and history of colonialism."
Carlos Berríos-Polanco
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While some remain uncommitted and are hoping to push Harris’ administration to meet certain demands, including an end to U.S. weapons transfers to Israel, others say that while they’re not fully satisfied by either candidate’s plans, they plan to vote for Harris and/or encourage others to do so.
However, Latines are adamant that casting a ballot is not enough.
“Just voting for Kamala Harris is not going to change anything meaningfully for Palestines,” says Berríos-Polanco, who cannot vote in the presidential election as he is based in Puerto Rico, one of five U.S. territories and commonwealths without presidential voting power. “But we need to think of the big picture. Before or after the election is not the time to tune out of politics, whether that be the politics of your neighborhood or politics on a national and global level.”
Vara expressed a similar sentiment, stating that although they have seen that many Latine youth as disillusioned by politics, they want to encourage them to remain engaged.
“The current administration is not listening to young voices or keeping its promises to Latinos, which has some people questioning whether electoral politics are even worth it,” Vara says. “The reasons for being disillusioned keep growing and growing, so I try to encourage them and let them know even though we’re disillusioned, there are other important elections going on … and we have to keep pushing.”