The Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, assures that his country’s government has set its sights on Latin America in order to strengthen ties in this region, now that one year has passed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and thus face to the influence of the Kremlin over some Latin American countries.
“This year we will be working much more on our commitment to Latin America,” promised the Ukrainian foreign minister during a virtual meeting with Latin American journalists organized by the Inter-American Press Association (SIP) attended by the voice of america.
“Ukraine is eager to develop deeper political, economic, cultural and humanitarian ties with Latin America and the Caribbean region,” the senior official said, admitting that “for too long” foreign policy led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “was mainly aimed at to our traditional allies in Europe and North America.”
Commitment to Latin America and the Caribbean
According to Kuleba, the Ukrainian executive has begun to forge these relationships with “dozens of Latin American partners” during this first year of warfare and highlights, for example, the visit of Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei to the Ukrainian capital.
“In July, we received the President of Guatemala in kyiv, who became the first Latin American leader to visit Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s large-scale aggression. Also some parliamentary delegations from Chile and Mexico visited Ukraine and had the opportunity to see with their own eyes the consequences of the invasion, ”he recalled.
However, he insists that one of the objectives set by Zelenskyy is to “develop a new approach to develop Ukraine’s relations with its region.” “We are currently finalizing our first Latin American foreign policy strategy, a comprehensive document that covers all spheres and defines clear goals and objectives for our foreign policy for the coming years,” it has advanced.
Among the objectives, he stresses, there is “an ambitious plan to expand our diplomatic presence in the region” of Spanish speaking. “We have seen the support of Latin America, for example, for a series of resolutions within the UN (United Nations) and other international organizations supported by the vast majority of Latin American countries,” he says.
Russian influence in the region
This rapprochement with the Latin American nations would be Zelenskyy’s strategy to minimize Russia’s influence in the region. In fact, the United States has warned on several occasions about the growing influence of the Kremlin in this part of the American continent through an “aggressive expansion.”
According to the head of the United States Southern Command, General Laura Richardson, the government of Vladimir Putin “seeks to keep its options open and maintain relations” in the South American countries, specifically in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, at a particularly delicate moment due to the Russian invasion.
Last year, a month after the start of the war, the senior Defense official recalled before a US Senate committee that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov visited those three aforementioned countries just before the start of the military operations in Ukraine.
In addition, the US government maintains that Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua “maintain close ties with Russia and offer Putin a foothold in our hemisphere.”
The majority position of Latin America
Despite the Kremlin’s intentions to increase its influence in the region, Minister Kuleba welcomed the position adopted by many of the member countries of the Organization of American States (OAS) who have strongly expressed their frontal rejection of the actions of the Russian president. in the war in Ukraine. “Depriving Russia of its observer status at the OAS in April 2022 was also a very important step,” he said.
As a spokesman for the Ukrainian government, Kuleba says he is “grateful” for the humanitarian assistance that some Latin American countries have provided, either as nations receiving refugees or with basic necessities, something that, according to him, “is real help for our citizens.”
“Victory is possible”
Despite all the actions exhibited by many of the Latin American governments, he believes that “more can be done to stop Russian aggression”, which, in his opinion, has global consequences.”
“This is not just about Ukraine. By attacking our country in such a brutal and illegal manner, Russia undermined world stability and the fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter. All the aggressor powerhouses around the world are closely watching whether Russia will be able to get away with it because if it does, they will know that it can follow its lead too,” she warns.
Faced with a threat, and convinced that “victory is possible”, the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stresses that “the best thing for our Latin American partners is to support Ukraine and guarantee that Russian aggression fails” as long as it “reestablishes a just and lasting peace.
Call of attention to El Salvador
However, it regrets the position of “neutrality” adopted by some countries in the region, including El Salvador. Its president Nayib Bukele refrained from supporting the UN resolution and has remained silent throughout this time of conflict.
“There are many shades of neutrality, as we have seen over the last year. In some cases, countries take a neutral position on the sentence, saying they want to be friends with both Russia and Ukraine. Others condemn and vote in favor of the UN General Assembly resolutions condemning the aggression, but say they are not going to do anything else, nor are they going to give or sell weapons. Instead, we can help you with humanitarian aid. And of course, there are countries that literally do nothing ”, she explains.
For this reason, he believes that a “country has taken the wrong side” at a time when “it cannot even openly condemn an act of aggression by Russia against Ukraine, an act that will go down in history and international law textbooks as the most obvious and apparent case of armed aggression.”
“That country agrees that the borders can be changed by force. This country agrees that (a country) that is stronger can try to impose its will on someone that is weaker,” he says, clarifying that “fortunately there are very few countries” that have adopted that position.
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