The protesters demonstrated at the port entrance against the export of live cattle to the Israeli market, which they describe as complicity with a “genocidal regime.”

Uruguay “sells cows and buys weapons ‘tested’ on Palestinian bodies,” states a statement issued by the groups participating in the protest, and added that trade agreements with Tel Aviv “feed the same people who force men, women, and children to die of hunger in Gaza.”

The participants expressed that the intention to hinder the export of cattle to Israel aims to “make visible, denounce, and reject all ties” with that “genocidal state.”

The statement highlights the participation of four Uruguayans in the Global Sumud Flotilla, an international initiative sailing toward Gaza with the goal of breaking the blockade by sea and bringing in humanitarian aid.

“The Flotilla is not to be touched,” the protest spokespersons emphasized in response to threats from Israel, according to the publication Caras y Caretas.

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