Echo in Latin America – DW – 06/27/2023

In much of Latin America, news that a group of mercenaries would be heading toward Moscow in battle tanks seems to have caused surprise and confusion, but not consternation.

“There was a lot of speculation in Latin America for two reasons: first, the position of states in general, with the exception of Cuba, Venezuela And Nicaragua, has been said to be neutral. And second: there is a lot of anticipation, but very little reliable information. Instead, a lot of false or inaccurate news is being spread,” Mauricio Jaramillo, a professor of political science at the Universidad del Rosario in Colombia, told DW.

“Here’s the problem Press In Latin America they have a very weak international line,” says Jaramillo, “many people publish a lot of news during a crisis, and once they stop, they stop reporting”.

Every country’s crises and problems dominate the headlines, and the general public is often left without the background and background of events, Jaramillo notes.

Latin America demands that Europe respect its neutrality

Regarding the war in Ukraine, Professor Jaramillo criticizes that some media in Latin America completely ignore the policy of neutrality that has governed the region for decades. Few seem to have forgotten the lesson of the Cold War, where Latin American countries were treated as “chips” in other people’s geopolitical games. Dr. Mauricio Jaramillo says that this is the reason why Gustavo Pedro refused to deliver military supplies to the United States destined for Ukraine “a reaction that was respected by the Joe Biden government and that did not damage relations.”

On the other hand, the regimes in Caracas, Havana, and Managua Only they came out in support of Putin. on Twitter. Venezuela’s foreign minister, Juan Gil, issued a statement “rejecting armed insurgency through terrorist methods.” Miguel Díaz-Canel expressed his hope that “constitutional order will prevail” in Russia. And from Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Carrillo expressed their solidarity in “challenging Russia’s wisdom and strength.”

Venezuela and Russia against an “imperial” invasion that didn’t come

Caracas was the first to rush Moscow back. Since Venezuela is a country with Russian weapons, how much does Caracas rely on Russia today? “Chávez and Maduro changed the strategic system of the Venezuelan armed forces, whose basic objective is to defend national sovereignty and territory. This change in strategic approach led to a possible conflict with the ’empire’, namely the United States, and to defend themselves against that eventual military incursion conducted through Colombia”, Carlos Blanco , former head of the Presidential Commission for the Reform of the Venezuelan State, explains to DW.

Venezuela is considered the largest buyer of Russian arms in Latin America. Russia has supplied the country with more than 100,000 Kalashnikov AK-103s, tanks, fighter jets, military helicopters and air defense systems. The financial scope of military-technical cooperation is already estimated at USD 11 billion in 2019. The German newspaper reported that Russia has provided loan assistance for this Wirtschaftswoche.

On March 30, 2021, during the visit of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov to Caracas, Caracas signed twelve agreements on finance, energy, trade, military, food and health matters. According to documents obtained by the NIUS newspaper, the accounts of the Venezuelan executive and both PDVSA, The Russian bank will be in Evrofinance Mosnarbank.

“What is happening in Russia, after the invasion of Ukraine, the processes of civilian and military discontent are evident,” says Professor Blanco, advisor to the European Union, for whom, in his opinion, “this unrest and instability in Russia is worrying for a regime like Maduro’s, which is basically sustained by these international alliances. .” But Blanco says that what applies to the United States also applies to Russia today: “Any Russian sneeze will send a deep chill into the Venezuelan government.”

Finally, as for the rest of Latin America, Mauricio Jaramillo, PhD in political science at the University of Toulouse, insists, “Not joining.” To NATO Latin American countries cannot be classified as pro-Russian countries.

(He)