Mexico City Even if most of the world condemns Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, Vladimir Putin can count on his vassals in Latin America. Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, all of which are also economically dependent on Russia, are firmly on Moscow’s side in the conflict.
The left-nationalist and extremely authoritarian governments of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela describe the attack as legitimate. “Does the world want President Putin to stand by and stop defending his people?” asked Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a televised address before the invasion, in which he blamed “the US empire and NATO” for what what could happen on the Russian-Ukrainian border.
After the war began, Caracas expressed “concern about the worsening of the crisis,” but blamed it on the Western military alliance, NATO.
Nicaragua’s head of state, Daniel Ortega, expressly advocated recognizing the separatist areas of Donbass and Luhansk: “President Putin’s decision opens up the possibility that this situation will not have major consequences,” said Ortega, agreeing with the Russian perspective on the conflict.
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Both Managua and Caracas are important beachheads for Russia in the US hinterland, a political weight that Moscow values and that Vladimir Putin pays dearly for. Both Nicaragua and Venezuela are dependent on allies such as Russia due to far-reaching sanctions imposed by the West.
To be clear, Article 84 states that the person speaking on this subject is the President. And the president’s name is Jair Messias Bolsonaro. Period. Jair Bolsonaro
This is especially true for Cuba, and has been so for a very long time. After talks between Putin and his Cuban counterpart Miguel Díaz-Canel at the end of January, in which they decided to “strengthen bilateral relations”, two high-ranking Russian delegations visited the island shortly before the attack on Ukraine.
>> Read also: Why is Russia attacking Ukraine? The chronology of events
It was about the debt that Cuba owes to Russia. A $2.3 billion restructuring of recent debt was negotiated at those meetings. As a result, Havana sided with Moscow in the Ukraine conflict.
Even before the war of aggression against the country, the Cuban Foreign Ministry said: “The US government has been threatening Russia for weeks and manipulating the international community about the dangers of an alleged impending invasion of Ukraine.” It stressed “Moscow’s right to defend itself.” .
Brazil positioned itself less clearly. In the country, whose far-right head of state Jair Bolsonaro has just visited Putin, the Kremlin’s aggressive actions have apparently triggered an internal conflict. After Vice-President Hamilton Mourão strongly criticized the invasion, he was called off by his boss: “To be clear: Article 84 says that the person who speaks about this issue is the President. And the president’s name is Jair Messias Bolsonaro. Period,” he said in a social media video.
This is how the Handelsblatt reports on the developments in the Ukraine war:
Even more surprising is Mexico’s commitment. The country, which otherwise stays out of international conflicts or sometimes takes bizarre views with the new President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has taken a clear stance against the war. “We are undoubtedly dealing with an invasion,” Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Twitter. “We strongly condemn the invasion of Ukraine by a power like Russia.”
More: Why Brazil and Argentina seek closeness to Vladimir Putin