“Israel is in the heart of my country. I received many messages from Paraguayans saying ‘You are blessed. You are in Israel,’ said Paraguay President Horacio Cartes as he paid a three-day visit to Israel this week.

He said he was surprised and "ashamed" that his visit was the first of any head of state of Paraguay, a country considered – along with Colombia – among Israel’s best friends in South America.

During his visit, Cartes visited the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and met with President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He said that Paraguay and Israel were not only business partners but shared common values as well, and that he admired the fact that Israelis had a deep sense of history from which Paraguayans could learn. He reminded that Paraguay had suffered grievous losses in its population during the Paraguayan War (1864–1870) and therefore could empathize with the destruction wrought in the Holocaust.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Paraguay is an anchor of friendship for Israel in South America, from which it hopes to spread out and improve ties with other countries in the region.

"In Israel we don't take our friends for granted. We are committed to working with them to make us all stronger, safer and more prosperous," he said as he met in Jerusalem with Cartes.

"I want to stress the fact that you have taken a position, a very forthright and courageous position to defend the truth and defend the truth about the state of Israel in difficult circumstances, and friends are tested in difficult times. And you are a great friend," Netanyahu said when the leaders made statements to reporters in Jerusalem.

President Cartes stood by Israel during the Operation Protective Edge in 2014 and did not condemn Israel even though some other Latin American states were extremely critical, and some – such as Brazil, Peru, Chile, El Salvador and Ecuador – recalled their ambassadors in protest at Israel’s actions.

In 2012, even before the election, Paraguay – along with Colombia – were the only South American countries that did not vote for granting the Palestinians non-member statehood status in the UN General Assembly.

In the UNESCO vote last April that effectively denied any Jewish connection to Jerusalem, Paraguay was one of 17 countries that abstained. It also voted for Israel at a very significant vote in the IAEA last September that would have forced Israel to open its nuclear facilities to international inspectors. And In 2015 it was not present for a vote on a UN resolution that mandated raising of the Palestinian flag at the world body.

Israel closed its embassy in Asunción in 2002 because of budgetary considerations, and as a result Paraguay closed its embassy in Tel Aviv.

Paraguay reopened its offices in 2014, and Israel reopened its embassy in Paraguay in 2015, even as it decided to close consulates at other locations as a cost-saving measure.