Since the Russian invasion, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky has participated in virtually most of the international summits of Western allies. Last February, he even personally went to Brussels to be at the EU summit. However, except for a last-minute surprise, Zelenski’s intervention is not expected at the next international conclave, the Ibero-American Summit, which will take place this Friday and Saturday in Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic.
Although Latin America is a region where most of its countries have formally questioned the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, the show of support for Kyiv has been rather lukewarm, trying not to provoke Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Since before the war, Russia had already shown its interest in expanding its interests in Latin America, where its main ally, China, has been investing and conditioning the markets for raw materials for two decades.
Until this Thursday, Zelenski’s intervention at the summit was not scheduled, nor was the war part of the official agency of the meeting. However, at the meeting of heads of state and government, any of the leaders could bring up the issue of the conflict in Europe, something that the Ibero-American General Secretariat (Segib), organizer of the summit and which has been directed since the year passed by the former Chilean Foreign Minister, Andrés Allamand.
Precisely the president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, held a videoconference with Zelenski on Tuesday. The two official versions of that virtual meeting exemplify the lukewarmness shown by many Latin American countries regarding support for Ukraine.
While on his social networks Zelenski said: “We discussed further consolidation of support from Latin America. We praise the decision of the International Criminal Court and mention the creation of a Special Court”; Boric replaced the supposed praise with a simple “conversation”. “We talked about the course of the war, the suffering of a people and the decision of the ICC, in addition to the support that, like Chile, we will continue to provide in all multilateral spaces to achieve the necessary peace,” said the Chilean leader.
Chile is one of four countries in the region that have publicly refused to provide weapons or ammunition to Ukraine. The other three are Brazil, Argentina and Colombia. The head of the US Southern Command, Laura Richardson, asked these nations – in addition to Peru and Ecuador – in January to send their Russian-made weapons to Kyiv, in exchange for receiving new US-made material.
All four refused, citing similar reasons. One of those who more clearly exposed a position that tends towards equidistance was the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. “Brazil is a country of peace and, therefore, it does not want to have any participation, not even indirectly (in the war),” Lula declared. “Brazil has no interest in sending ammunition to be used in the war,” he added, standing by none other than German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who visited Brasilia at the end of January.
On that occasion, Lula even offered to act as a negotiator between Putin and Zelenski. “We should look for who can help find peace between Russia and Ukraine,” said the Brazilian leader.
The Argentine president, Alberto Fernández, also rejected the shipment of arms to Ukraine. The Peronist politician stages the policy of non-interference in the conflict. Fernández received much criticism for visiting Putin in Moscow just days before he ordered the invasion of Ukraine, as did the then Brazilian leader, the far-right Jair Bolsonaro.
Argentina overcame the pandemic in large part thanks to the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, which Putin provided preferentially to the Southern Cone country. However, the Casa Rosada, which owes a monumental loan to the IMF, has the obligation to get along with the EU and especially with the US. This Thursday it was announced that US President Joe Biden will receive Fernández at the Casa next Wednesday White.
Only one government in the region, Costa Rica, is applying the sanctions dictated by the EU and the US. The rest continue trying to maintain their trade relations with Russia, which exports a product, fertilizers, on which the agricultural industry depends from Brazil, Argentina, Mexico or Peru.
Despite the lukewarm support for Ukraine, most Latin American countries have formally remained within the world consensus that holds Russia responsible for the war, since they have supported the four resolutions voted so far within the UN. Resolutions in which only the three countries with authoritarian governments of the subcontinent, allies of Russia, voted against or abstained: Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Also Bolivia and El Salvador – whose president, Nayib Bukele, is increasingly approaching authoritarianism – abstained from any of the United Nations resolutions.
