By: Carlos Sánchez Berzaín - 09/07/2023
The backing of Russia’s invasion to Ukraine, the surrendering to China’s operations in their territory, and the active penetration of Iran, show that Brazil and socialism’s dictatorships comprised by Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua are openly executing a process of subordinating their countries, States, and foreign policy to the dictatorships of Russia, China, and Iran, with disastrous consequences for peace and security of the Americas.
Russia’s invasion to Ukraine catapulted us into the “first global war” that is a war in which the armed operations occur between two countries in a specific battlefront, but the confrontation is general and does not exclude any country from the world.
Globalization, which is “the phenomenon based on the ever-increasing interconnectivity between the different countries of the world at the economic, political, social, and technological levels,” also defines the nature of the war of aggression of Russia against Ukraine as the first global war, one in which there is no neutrality. The first global war’s axis of confrontation is; dictatorships against democracy, concentration of power at the expense of the peoples’ human rights against freedom.
Dictatorships from Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua openly back Russia’s invasion to Ukraine and they are joined by governments from democratic countries that are subordinated to the dictatorships, the para-dictatorial governments of Lopez Obrador in Mexico, Fernandez/Kirchner in Argentina, and Lula da Silva in Brazil, who has actively assumed command of the foreign policy of the Latin-American dictatorial group.
The regimes from Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua, all proclaiming their antiimperialist narrative, have become; territorial, political, and military platforms for China, Russia, and Iran’s operations in the Americas. All of these countries have equipped themselves with Russian and Chinese weaponry, military advisors, and with an Iranian presence in their territory.
While the democratic world isolates and sanctions Russia, the dictatorships from Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua expand their mechanisms and operations under the apparently correct but invalid definition of “cooperation” all while at the same time they receive aid and assistance from democratic countries, the European Union, ironically the same countries and Union they are attacking with their backing to Russia. Europe is cooperating with their enemies.
Public information and the meeting of Dictators and Military Commanders, show the close military relationship between Cuba and Russia, and alerts us to the possible participation of Cuban “volunteers” in the war. The existence of a Chinese installation in Cuba to spy on the United States, has also been publicly shown. Cuba has opened its legislation modifying its system for Russian investments. The participation of the Cuban dictatorship and its satellites in Russia’s invasion to Ukraine and the attacks against democracy are not a secret.
In April of this year and regarding the war, Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs has visited Brazil, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba. In June, the President of Iran has visited Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba to “expand cooperation.” Without the need of a visit, Bolivia’s dictatorship “gave-up control of Bolivian Lithium to China and Russia,” while it expands the Iranian penetration in the country where mining and exploitation of strategic minerals occur and a cultural conquest is underway. The presence of Luis Arce and Evo Morales in Cuba and Venezuela is now more frequent.
In China, Lula da Silva proposed an allegiance of all dictatorships from throughout the world against democracy that he calls -following his scripted narrative- imperialism, he then refused to meet with Ukraine’s President at the G-7. He convened the failed Meeting of South American Presidents at which he tried to rehabilitate Venezuela’s dictator. He undermined Resolutions against Nicaragua and other dictatorships at the 53rd General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), and now he is promoting the Meeting of the Forum of Sao Paolo in Brazil.
As part of the -up to now failed- strategy of normalization of Latin American dictatorships, Lula da Silva using Brazil, promoted a Summit Meeting of the European Union with the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC in Spanish). CELAC was created by Hugo Chavez in 2010 to attempt to legitimize dictatorships. The President of Ukraine has denounced that he was invited to attend the summit scheduled for 17 July with Venezuela’s dictator in attendance, but that his invitation was “blocked by Latin American leaders” identifying them as Brazil Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua.
Brazil, Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua’s subordination to Russia, China, and Iran is an objective reality. Albeit Brazil’s is outrageous, but dictatorships are regimes in terminal crises who with this servitude seek to prolong the practice of State terrorism with which they subject the peoples.
*Attorney & Political Scientist. Director of the Interamerican Institute for Democracy.
Translation from Spanish by Edgar L. Terrazas
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