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Russia’s Slaves and the Opportunity for Latin America

Los esclavos de Rusia y la oportunidad para América Latina, EFE

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By John Mario González*

The gradual intensification of the winter cold, a city operating at half-light and the celebration of Christmas and the Orthodox New Year could be mistaken for apparent calm in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, in the last week. An image that contrasts with the war footing that can be seen in other reflections of the city. It is enough to observe the countrymen in military dress who sporadically enter the supermarkets, or the kind young officer who tells with haughtiness and anger that he returned to Kyiv to wait for the Belarusians.

It is not only a question then of the military blows that Vladimir Putin has received in the east of Ukraine, such as the attack on January 3 in the city of Makiivka, in the Donetsk region, in which 89 Russian soldiers and more than 400, according to the Ukrainian command, were killed. Nor only of the Kharviv offensive last September, of the forced withdrawal of the Russians in November from the city of Kherson, which inflamed its most nationalist, or the desperate and sterile struggle of Wagner’s mercenaries who are trying to capture Bakhmut to show that they can do what his army could not.

Of course, these are military defeats on Ukrainian territory that have undoubtedly exploded the myth of the mighty Russian Army, alarming countries that depend on its security umbrella, such as several of the Central Asian nations. And more are sure to come because, despite the ambivalence of some leaders, such as French President Emmanuel Macron, the United States and Europe are arming Ukraine to the teeth, albeit slowly.

They have understood that it is cheaper and less painful for them to invest in their own security by providing the Ukrainians. Better than then losing their own men and repeating with Putin the horror of Hitler’s 1938 and 1939 territorial annexations that unleashed the Second World War. A monstrosity dramatically narrated on the Polish front, in 1946, in the book “The Warsaw Drama” by Casimiro Granzow y de la Cerda.

It is not only a question then of the military blows that Vladimir Putin has received in the east of Ukraine, such as the attack on January 3 in the city of Makiivka, in the Donetsk region, in which 89 Russian soldiers and more than 400, according to the Ukrainian command, were killed. Nor only of the Kharviv offensive last September, of the forced withdrawal of the Russians in November from the city of Kherson, which inflamed its most nationalist, or the desperate and sterile struggle of Wagner’s mercenaries who are trying to capture Bakhmut to show that they can do what his army could not.

Behind the symbols of egalitarianism and the abstractions exported by the Soviet Union for 70 years, there was a very aggressive Russification project and slavery for those who were part of it. Countries that had their own languages and customs, but in which the Communist Party forced children to study in Russian from the first grade, and only until the fifth grade could they study in their own language. Or they executed it by moving people to distant places so that they could marry, mix and extend their Russian roots.

Underhanded posturing and ideologization of foreign policy

The strange thing is that not only some Latin American countries do not flinch before the totalitarian heritage represented by Putin, before the aggression, but also, as stated by the Special Representative, Ruslan Spirin, “several countries in the region are waiting to see who starts winning to take a real position.” To which he adds that “it is a mistake because the new world order will be without Russia as a first line player and Latin American countries may unfortunately not be in the front row.”

Moreover, Spirin maintains that “there are countries in Latin America that are slaves of Russia.” When asked if he is referring to Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Cuba, Spirin specifies, and at the same time qualifies, by pointing out that “that is what analysts say and it is clear from the UN votes, whether for debts, contracts or in exchange for money.”

This is a position very much in line with that held by former President Ricardo Lagos, Jorge Castañeda, and Héctor Aguilar Camín in the recent book “La nueva soledad de América Latina” (The New Solitude of Latin America). A text with oversights, such as the contribution of the Contadora Group to the birth of the Rio Group, or the overestimation of China’s potential, although undoubtedly clarifying and substantial. For Lagos, the politicization of Latin American foreign policy since the arrival of Hugo Chávez to power in Venezuela, combined with that of Evo Morales in Bolivia, Rafael Correa in Ecuador, and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, was a very serious mistake.

Russia's Slaves and the Opportunity for Latin America, EFE
Ukrainian rescuers stand in front of a hotel that was hit in a missile attack in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Dec. 31, 2022. (EFE)

This a tendency that several presidents in the region continue to play at present, with populist or dictatorial projects, with little or no commitment to democracy. Governments that even produce ‘diplomatic’ condemnations of Russia at the UN, but do nothing to materialize them.

Of course, it is understandable that countries such as Ecuador, Chile, Paraguay, and even Argentina have a very surplus trade balance with Russia. But it is shocking in the cases of Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, which have minimal or even deficit trade balances with Russia.

As for Colombia, it is picturesque that it does not even feel morally bound by the precepts of democracy, individual freedom, and the rule of law of NATO’s preamble and being the first Latin American country to be a global partner of the organization. With partners like that, why make enemies?

Undoubtedly, a defeat or probable Russian disintegration into different states and nationalities is far off. Moreover, war analysts, such as Ukrainian blogger Denys Davidov, estimate that Putin is building up his forces and that, among the likely scenarios, he is likely to launch a new assault from Belarus on Kyiv, with a million or 500,000 new troops to try to turn the tide of the war.

But so far, what Putin has done in Ukraine is a disaster, such as a plan to hold a military parade on the capital’s iconic Khreshchatyk Street 3 days after the invasion. And it seems that the slaves of Russia are determined to take over the disaster and drag the region to the same fate. Latin America should shake itself to defend freedoms and democracy and seize the opportunity to be at the forefront of the new post-war world order in Ukraine.


*John Mario González (@johnmario) is an international analyst and columnist from Kyiv for El Nacional.

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