MEXICO CITY

Paraguayan President Santiago Pena on Thursday thanked US President Donald Trump for launching the Board of Peace, two years after Israel began its military offensive against Palestinians.

Among a small group of Latin American signatories, Pena praised Trump for presiding over the US-led initiative to intervene in Gaza and the broader region, thanking the Republican leader for “bringing hope again.”

During the Board’s inauguration in Washington, Pena described it as an effort to strengthen global stability and criticized what he called a broken international system unable to deliver solutions to global crises.

The South American nation, home to 6.1 million people, has firmly backed Trump’s initiative, although Pena clarified that Paraguay will not contribute financial resources to the Board.

“That’s why Paraguay is so proud to be a founding member of the Board of Peace. And we’re here to collaborate. Maybe we are not going to be the country that brings the most money or the largest security forces, but I think there is a lot that all countries can bring to the table to solve these issues,” he said during the meeting, and expressed support for Israel.

Initially conceived as a mechanism to stabilize and reconstruct the Gaza Strip after two years of sustained Israeli attacks and widespread destruction of infrastructure, the Board, viewed by some as operating parallel to the United Nations, has since expanded the scope of its mission.

“And today it is Gaza. Tomorrow it will be another crisis. There will be another conflict area in the world, but we need to solve each of these conflicts. And I really appreciate the leadership that you have taken, President. Paraguay stands ready to collaborate,” Pena added.

Other Latin American leaders aligned with US policy also joined the Board, including El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele and Argentina’s President Javier Milei.

The Board of Peace was established within the framework of efforts toward a peaceful settlement in the Gaza Strip. It seeks to promote peacemaking around the world. Washington has said additional states have since joined the initiative.

A US-backed ceasefire agreement has been in place in Gaza since Oct. 10, halting Israel’s two-year onslaught that has killed more than 72,000 victims, mostly women and children, and injured over 171,000 since October 2023.

Despite the ceasefire, Israeli forces have committed hundreds of violations through shelling and gunfire, killing 611 Palestinians and injuring 1,630, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.