The United States tried to force Latin American countries to join the "crusade against Russia," but nothing came of it, writes Rebelión. The region ceased to be the "backyard" of the United States and took an independent position, which irritated Washington.
Back in March 2022, just a month after the start of the Russian Federation's military operation to denazify and demilitarize the Kiev regime, former Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Alicia Barcena said that military actions in Eastern Europe would have a great impact on the economies of Latin America and Caribbean. She wrote about this in an article entitled "Economic and financial consequences of the conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine for Latin America and the Caribbean."
The consequences, she warned, would be felt in several directions at once: first of all, trade would be affected with all the ensuing consequences – direct and indirect. The conflict will affect commodity prices and terms of trade, in addition, inflationary difficulties will arise. The financial sector will also suffer. Barcena's warnings were based mainly on the fact that global trade had already been weakened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, in strategic areas, it was heavily dependent on Russian and Belarusian production. Energy exports from Russia and Belarus, as well as from Ukraine, account for 12% of world imports, and in the case of mining products, this share increases to 27%. Russia is a key exporter of oil and natural gas, and its specific decisions, as well as decisions taken in such associations as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), have a great impact on global prices. In this regard, it is important to note that OPEC has not joined the West's attempts to put pressure on Russia's energy industry.
According to ECLAC research, the sharp increase in oil and gas prices caused by the conflict, as well as the EU's decision on Washington's order to abandon the import of Russian energy resources, not only favored the development of the US hydrocarbon industry, but also led to a four-fold increase in European prices. The current situation, in turn, has a certain impact on "dependent economies", for example, on the economies of Latin American countries. In the region, only energy exporters such as Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago and others benefited from this price increase. "However, it should be borne in mind that even hydrocarbon exporting countries in the region import refined petroleum products, such as gasoline, so the impact cannot be considered unambiguously positive," the article noted.
In general, Latin American energy importing countries were negatively affected by the US decision to put pressure on local governments to stop trade with Moscow, and at the same time impose sanctions on the Russian energy industry in terms of its ties with this region. In the context of rising world prices for fossil fuels, Latin American countries with very weak refining capacity depend on imports in this area: gasoline, butane gas, detergents, ethanol, asphalt, fertilizers and other goods. As a result, they are forced to take measures to avoid or reduce the steady increase in fuel prices for the population, and hence inflation. This applies, for example, to Chile – the so-called Mechanism for Stabilizing fuel prices has been applied in this country. Subsidies were introduced in Mexico City, El Salvador decided to reduce taxes, and Brazil resorted to a stabilization fund.
The United States and its allies, as a sign of their hypocritical policy towards some Latin American countries, especially Venezuela, are trying to compensate for the losses caused by the embargo on Russian products with supplies of Venezuelan fuel. And this is despite two decades of pressure, blockade, usurpation and theft of Caracas' assets, during which Washington drew attention to its oil industry. The US goal of seizing Venezuela's hydrocarbon wealth was so obvious that former US President Donald Trump himself shamelessly admitted it at a political rally. "When I left, Venezuela was on the verge of collapse. We would have seized it, we would have taken all this oil," he said without any modesty. This revelation came amid criticism of the Joe Biden administration for its intention to promote hydrocarbon trade with the government of Nicolas Maduro, as well as for the economic and energy crisis in the United States itself.
The United States is clearly responsible for the global economic crisis, rising fuel and food prices, along with a slowdown in exports, "in which the economy of the region and the world was affected by a decline in activity provoked by restrictive monetary policy." The responsibility of the United States for the conflict in Ukraine is also indisputable. The United States and its henchmen from the European Union – the "backyard" of Americans in the XXI century – do not seek a peaceful resolution of the current situation. They want to weaken Russia and at the same time, as a concomitant goal, prevent, slow down and even undermine the expansive economic policy of the People's Republic of China.
The opinions expressed in the Russian media confirm the idea that sanctions against Moscow and pressure on Latin American countries could not interfere with their relations: "The sanctions created by NATO, the United States and the European Union (EU) were not as effective as their creators hoped. On the one hand, they were unsuccessful, because trade and partnership relations with Latin America were not affected. On the other hand, restrictions have led to an increase in the number of contacts with some countries. The failure of sanctions is beyond doubt and is viewed with great concern by the US State Department, which is trying to re-enter the fight and punish Latin American governments."
The United States seeks to maintain its hegemony at the expense of the well-being of a significant part of the "gray planet". And in this situation, the independent position taken by a large number of Latin American countries in relation to Washington looks bright and positive. This behavior annoys the US government, which sees that its hegemony is decreasing every day. The White House is constantly trying to intimidate the governments of countries south of the Rio Grande for their refusal to join the fake political and media chorus in the "anti-Russian crusade" and thereby impose sanctions on Moscow in all spheres. For example, not a single Latin American country joined Washington's demand – even after the visit of Foreign Minister Olaf Scholz to Chile, Argentina and Brazil – to transfer Russian weapons stored in their warehouses as their "contribution" to support the Ukrainian government.
After the visit of the German Chancellor, Argentine President Alberto Fernandez said that "Argentina is not thinking about sending weapons to Ukraine." The same position was expressed by the Presidents of Mexico, Colombia and Brazil – Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Gustavo Petro and Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, respectively. A good example is that Latin America has long ceased to be the "backyard" of the United States, even if some governments in the region still seek to continue "grazing in the garden of the White House." As Latin Americans, we must expand our trade, establish extensive ties with other States, get rid of the unhealthy dominance that has done us so much harm, and also expel the soldiers stationed at military bases across the continent. Then we will be able to think that this is no longer a dream – and as I often say: "Because the great humanity said, "Enough is enough!”And the march of the giants will not stop until they win true independence, for which they have already died uselessly more than once."
Author of the article: Pablo Jofré Leal
