Latin Americans are adamant
Politicians from Europe have been visiting the countries of the South American continent. In January German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Brazil, then the UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverley visited the country, as well as Colombia and Chile. European Council President Charles Michel has recently visited the continent and British Foreign Secretary Annalena Berbock has announced a visit to Brazil in June. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has announced that she will travel to Chile, Brazil and Argentina in the second week of June.
Politico explains: “The prolonged offensive by senior diplomats from major European countries and their institutions is aimed at swaying neutral Latin American countries to their side as part of a wider geopolitical battle with Russia and China.
There is also a purely practical task of forcing Latin American countries to hand over their existing tanks, as well as Soviet-made weapons, to Ukraine. Thus, the armies of Chile and Brazil have hundreds of Leopard tanks, and Colombia and Brazil have MiG transport helicopters and anti-tank missiles.
However, Latin America does not listen to Europeans, states Politico. The Financial Times confirms that Latin American leaders have rejected appeals to supply weapons to Ukraine before and they are not going to send weapons to Ukraine now either. “Even if it turns into scrap metal with us, Colombia will not transfer Russian weapons to Ukraine for the sake of prolonging the conflict,” said President Gustavo Petro.
“Brazil is not interested in transferring ammunition to continue fighting between Ukraine and Russia,” says President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Similarly, Argentina’s neighbours are taking a similar stand. “Argentina is not going to support the conflict,” stresses an Argentine defence ministry spokesman. – Sending weapons for the sake of fighting in Europe is unacceptable”.
At the same time, European leaders are trying to find replacements for Russian oil and gas on the Latin American continent. Germany is particularly eager to do so. Olaf Scholz has named “many countries in the Americas” at the top of the list of regions with which he wants the EU to conclude major new trade deals. The EU’s draft agreement with the Mercosur bloc is a priority.
Meanwhile, Europe could lose Latin America. “I have told the Europeans that they have lost Russia and now they will lose Latin America. And they will be left alone if they don’t understand that they need to integrate,” said Brazilian Economy Minister Paulo Guedes, speaking in Davos.
Boris Martynov, head of the department of international relations and foreign policy at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, said: “Latin Americans have been adamant – all demands and requests from both London and Washington have been met with refusal”. According to Martynov, not a single country in the region supported sanctions against Russia or cancelled visa-free travel with our country, much less agreed to supply weapons to Ukraine. Similarly, Latin American countries do not intend to refuse from cooperation with China.
According to observers, Europe decided to turn to Latin America after weakening of its position in Africa. Hopes for the Europeans to regain lost ground worsened noticeably late last year when Biden announced he would invest $55 billion in Africa. It became clear that the road to Africa was closing for the EU….
It is unlikely, however, that Western Europe’s hopes of finding in Latin America what they are losing in Africa are realistic. As of 2022, China was Latin America’s second largest trading partner overall and the largest trading partner of nine countries in the region – Cuba, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, Peru, Bolivia and Venezuela. Total China-Latin America trade rose to $450 billion in 2021 and reached a new high of $485.8 billion in 2022. Trade between China and Latin America has increased 40-fold since 2000.
Russia is also strengthening its ties with the continent. Russia’s total exports to Latin America and the Caribbean grew by 3.8% last year, despite anti-Russian sanctions and pressure from the US and EU, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an April article for the Brazilian newspaper Folha de San-Paulo and the Mexican magazine Buzos. According to him, Russia has increased the supply of fertilizers and oil products to LAC countries. And wheat exports to the region have increased one and a half times (by 48.8%).
So, despite the pressure and promises, key Latin American countries are not about to abandon their profitable cooperation with Russia and China. However, Europe is unwilling to reckon with reality and the pressure on the continent’s leaders continues. “Europe wants Latin America on their side against Vladimir Putin. Good luck with that,” Politico notes ironically.
Vladimir Malyshev, FSK
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