Latin America Splits Over Western Sahara as UN Mission’s Deadline Nears

The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) told the United Nations on October 9 that it backs a political solution “that would lead to the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara.” Before the meeting ended, one member government had disowned those words, and two others had spoken in favor of Morocco’s plan for the territory.

Uruguay read the statement on the bloc’s behalf to the General Assembly’s Fourth Committee, which handles decolonization. It said CELAC “continues to firmly support the efforts of the Secretary-General and his personal envoy to find a just, lasting, mutually acceptable political solution.” Late in the session, Paraguay’s delegation asked the committee to record that it “dissociates itself from the paragraphs on the topic of Puerto Rico and on the question of Western Sahara because it does not reflect the current position of the Republic of Paraguay.”

The quotations come from the UN’s transcript of the meeting, which the UN produces by automatic speech recognition and does not treat as an official record. The Sahara Press Service, the news agency of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, reported the CELAC statement on October 11 and did not mention Paraguay.

A divided bloc

Peru, another CELAC member, told the same committee that “the government of Peru supports resolution 2797 of 2025,” the Security Council measure that backs negotiations based on Morocco’s autonomy proposal. The Bahamas called that proposal “a realistic, viable, and pragmatic approach.” Cuba took the other side. It said it would keep defending “the legitimate aspirations of the Saharawi people” in all multilateral forums and opposed “an autonomy without sovereignty.”

Colombia has gone further. On August 10, its foreign ministry froze relations with the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and said Colombia recognizes Morocco’s sovereignty over all of its territory, “incluyendo el Sahara Occidental,” including Western Sahara. Colombia currently holds a nonpermanent seat on the Security Council, and the ministry said it would give the republic no support there.

The deadline

The Security Council adopted Resolution 2797 on October 31, 2025, by 11 votes to none, with China, Pakistan and Russia abstaining and Algeria not taking part. It backed negotiations “taking as basis Morocco’s Autonomy Proposal” and said “genuine autonomy could represent a most feasible outcome,” while still calling for a solution “that provides for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara.”

The same resolution extended the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, known as MINURSO, “until 31 October 2026.” The Council has 19 days to decide what comes next.

CELAC’s statement still names self-determination as the goal. By October 31, the Security Council will decide whether self-determination in Western Sahara means a decision by its people or autonomy under Morocco.