Denver – Peruvian newspaper El Comercio criticized the Polisario and its links to despots in an article underlining the group’s totalitarian nature.
El Comercio noted that Polisario’s list of allies included countries with questionable democratic standards. Among the allies noted were Algeria, Venezuela, Iran, Nicaragua, and Cuba. The news outlet noted that even Peru, which reestablished ties with the group last month, was amongst the group’s few allies.
El Comercio criticized the Polisario as an autocratic group, “which takes its decisions without consultation,” and an appropriate reflection of the allies that choose to stand in solidarity with the separatist group.
In its article, the newspaper quotes Mohamed Badine El Yattioui, professor of international relations at the American University of the United Arab Emirates, who underlines that the group has continued to attempt to forge ties with leftist regimes in Latin America through a “romantic” lens.
The Algerian regime has helped to support the establishment of these ties, as the Polisario Front desperately seeks international recognition to legitimize its actions.
El Comercio concludes by labeling the pro-Polisario narrative on Western Sahara as a “distortion of reality,” emphasizing that the decision of Latin America’s governments to align themselves with the separatist front is based on “ignorance.”
While claiming to be proponents of democracy and self-determination for the Sahrawi people, in reality the Polisario has been known to rule in an autocratic fashion, often establishing their control through violence, coercion, and extortion.
A recent report from activists in the Polisario-controlled Tindouf refugee camps in Algeria shed light on the group’s extrajudicial killings, tortures, and forced recruitment of teenagers into the Polisario militia.
