If the US doesn’t focus on what is happening down south, the results can complicate its global leadership

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For the Russian chancellery, Latin America can no longer be considered as the backyard of the United States. One must take IGNORE INTO account that advances in the economic, scientific, financial, and political fields have constituted a more independent region. Likewise, the ties between Latin American countries and other nations have increased showing the world that, even though the US’ presence is relevant, it is not a necessity.

In an interview with the Russian agency RT, Maria Zajárova, the spokesperson for foreign affairs of the Russian Foreign Ministry, stated that “the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean have long ceased to be the backyard of the US and have had the opportunity to put Washington in its place with respect to its way of acting in the region. However, there has been no lasting consolidation to stop that harmful relationship”.

Zajárova not only alludes to the bilateral relations between Russia and Venezuela, Bolivia, and Cuba, but rather as the way the whole subcontinent has been integrating itself in the international system. “Relationships no longer place the United States and the region as allies; the rapprochement with China, India, the European Union,as a whole, and the increasing participation in forums of the Pacific Asia, shows that Latin America is taking a renewed attitude in the system international”, stated the Russian diplomat.

Bearing in mind the Russian declarations about the region, it is not wrong to assert that Latin America has turned its gaze to other areas with which it can obtain better benefits. We must also highlight the actions that take place within blocs, such as the Pacific Alliance, MERCOSUR, CARICOM, and others that have sought to strengthen the ties between neighbors and promote themselves to the international system.

For Piotr Yákovlev professor at the Plekhanov University of Economics in Moscow, Russia’s interests in the region are clear; it is doing so by promoting the desire to eliminate the dependency that has existed for years on the United States. “Russia, and more specifically Putin, knows what it would mean to enter the Latin American region, it is not only what the region contributes economically, but it is the opportunity to be in the closest circle of influence…”.

With the statements of the Russian Foreign Ministry and Professor Yákolev, it is safe to deduce that the Kremlin wants to change the world order that Washington has interposed. The United States has focused, since the arrival of Donald Trump to the White House, in situations that are far from its territory, but if it does not realize what is happening down south, it can gain a headache and complicate its global leadership.

Latin American Post | Carlos Eduardo Gómez Avella

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