Via JPost:

Some true friendships, between countries as much as between individuals, are no less charming because they are minor.

This year, Uruguay’s President Tabaré Vázquez will be celebrating his country’s independence day, August 25, in Israel. Vázquez, an oncologist, has been here before. He studied for half a year at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, and visited in 1992 as mayor of Montevideo. But yesterday he arrived for his first state visit, a five-day trip during which he will meet Prime Minister Olmert, President Peres, and Foreign Minister Livni.

Elected to a five-year term in 2004, Vázquez is Uruguay’s first left-wing president. His Frente Amplio (Broad Front) government is based on a coalition that includes Communists, social democrats and former Tupamaro guerrillas. His country, wedged between Brazil and Argentina, is not large. Slightly smaller than Oklahoma, its population is half that of New York City.

But it is also South America’s most solid democracy – and one that happens to bear a long and rich relationship with Israel. At the 1920 San Remo conference, Uruguay strongly supported the Balfour
Declaration. Before World War II, thousands of European Jews – from Germany and Hungary in particular – found refuge in Uruguay; in 1939 alone, some 2,200 Jews entered the country.

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