Simon Bolivar's Latin America.

[TsarSamuil]

Delivering Maduro to America was objective of failed Venezuelan incursion – US mercenary says in interrogation tape.

RT.com
6 May, 2020 18:56

Kidnapping Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and bringing him to the US was the objective of a failed incursion into the country, one of the two captured US mercenaries said in an interrogation tape released by state TV.

Two employees of Florida-based security firm, Silvercorp, have been detained by Venezuelan forces in connection with the failed invasion.

The only instructions he received before Sunday's botched operation was to take control of the airport in order to facilitate the transfer of Maduro to the US, Luke Denman, one of the detained Americans, said in the footage.

Denman also claimed that there was a good payout waiting for him following the successful completion of the risky mission. “I expected anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000,” he said.

Maduro announced on Wednesday that Denman and fellow Silvercorp employee, Airan Berry, will go on trial in Venezuela. Caracas will also be demanding Washington extradite Silvercorp boss, Jordan Goudreau, as he was the one who allegedly coordinated the actions of the mercenaries.

In his comments after the broadcast of the interrogation tape, Maduro insisted that “Donald Trump is the direct chief of this invasion.”

Washington has made little secret of its desire to see Venezuela's socialist president removed from power. It has been actively supporting opposition figure Juan Guaido, who declared himself ‘interim president’ in January 2019, and it even offered a reward of $15 million for any information leading to Maduro's arrest.

However, Trump was quick to deny any involvement by the US administration in the failed Venezuelan incursion.

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pledged that the White House would use “every tool” in order to bring the two Americans – who used to serve in US special operations forces – back home.

Denman and Berry, along with 11 other ‘foreign mercenaries’, were arrested by Venezuelan security forces on Monday as they were intercepted while allegedly trying to reach the country's shore by speedboat.

[TsarSamuil]

Ex-president Correa of Ecuador sentenced to 8 years in prison in bribery case as court dismisses his appeal.

RT.com
21 Jul, 2020 00:05

Ecuador’s National Court of Justice has turned down an appeal filed by former president Rafael Correa in an “aggravated bribery” case, upholding the eight-year sentence that Correa has called politically motivated.

Correa and 17 other Ecuadorian officials were charged and convicted in absentia back in April, on charges of accepting bribes and spending them on political campaigning. The former president’s appeal was dismissed on Monday and he was sentenced to eight year in prison.

Reacting to the verdict on Twitter, Correa said such a decision “was expected” while branding the whole case against him “ridiculous.” He also denounced the court decision as “one of the darkest pages” in Ecuador’s history.

The former president has repeatedly claimed the charges were based on “fraudulent” evidence and were part of a political campaign launched by his opponents to prevent him from running for the presidential office once again. Ecuador is expected to hold both presidential and parliamentary elections next year. Correa’s sentence disqualifies him from running for any public office for 25 years.

Ecuador’s National Electoral Council also suspended several political parties on Sunday, citing some “irregularities” in their registration process. Among them was the Force of Social Commitment (FCS) party that supports Correa. All four parties were given ten days to defend themselves, in a process that could see them losing the right to participate in the next year’s elections.

Correa ran Ecuador from 2007 to 2017, and is known among other things for giving political asylum to WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange. He later moved to Belgium and currently hosts a talk show on RT Spanish.

[TsarSamuil]

US puts $5 MILLION bounty on president of Venezuela’s supreme court, accusing him of ‘corruption’

RT.com
21 Jul, 2020 20:10

Washington is offering $5 million for the arrest of the presiding judge of Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice, accusing Maikel Moreno of accepting bribes in criminal cases and of being a “crony” of President Nicolas Maduro.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the bounty on Tuesday, saying that Moreno “used his position of authority for personal gain” and that his designation sends a clear message that the US “stands firmly against corruption.”

Moreno has chaired the court – known by its Spanish initials TSJ – since December 2014. He had already been placed on the US sanctions list in May 2017, over the court’s ruling that allowed Maduro to disband the National Assembly.

The $5-million bounty against Moreno is the latest move in Washington’s campaign to effect regime change in Caracas. The US also placed a $15-million bounty on Maduro in March, accusing the Venezuelan president of conspiring to “flood the United States with cocaine.”

So far, Maduro has managed to thwart every US attempt to overthrow him, including the recognition of opposition politician Juan Guaido as “interim president” in January 2019, an attempted military coup by Guaido supporters four months later, sanctions on oil exports and the seizure of Venezuelan gold and oil assets.

Driven in part by the bounty, a group of militants led by two Americans attempted to infiltrate Venezuela in May and kidnap Maduro, but were themselves taken prisoner by Venezuelan security forces.

[TsarSamuil]

Venezuela wins UK court decision in battle to get its gold back.

RT.com
5 Oct, 2020 13:39

The UK’s appeals court has ruled in favor of President Nicolas Maduro’s government in the battle to repatriate Venezuela’s $1 billion worth of gold held at the Bank of England, reversing an earlier decision.

The UK High Court ruled in favor of opposition politician Juan Guaido earlier this year, saying that London unequivocally recognizes him as “interim president” of the South American nation, rather than President Maduro. The judgment came as the two sides were battling for access to gold reserves stored in the vaults of the Bank of England.

The UK Court of Appeals overturned the previous lower court ruling on Monday, saying that the gold case should be reconsidered. The judges, led by Stephen Males, found that the UK government’s statements on Guaido may not have reflected the reality on the ground. Thus, London’s recognition of Guaido is “ambiguous, or at any rate less than unequivocal,” the judge said in the ruling.

Maduro’s legal team insisted during September hearings that the elected leader was holding power “de facto.”

Venezuela’s central bank, Banco Central de Venezuela (BCV), backed by Maduro, was seeking to release the bullion, saying the country needs funds to battle the coronavirus outbreak, including purchases of necessary medical equipment. The opposition says the funds could be misappropriated and sought to block access for the Maduro government. The British court sided with Guaido after Venezuela sued the Bank of England for withholding its gold, but Caracas won the right to challenge the decision in July.

BCV board solicitor Sarosh Zaiwalla said that the lower court judgment had led to “a completely unrealistic situation.” He earlier stated that the outcome of the case could present “a further threat to the international perception of English institutions as being free from political interference, as well as the Bank of England’s reputation abroad as a safe repository for sovereign assets.”

[TsarSamuil]

Good, now get ridd of that imbecile in Brazil too

Bolivia’s official presidential vote count confirms win by socialist Luis Arce, ally of ousted leader Morales.

RT.com
23 Oct, 2020 15:43

Socialist Luis Arce has won the presidential election in Bolivia with 55 percent of the vote, the official count confirmed after all ballots were counted on Friday.

Arce’s leading rival, Carlos Mesa, took just under 29 percent of the vote, meaning the socialist’s tally exceeded the required 20 percentage-point lead for an outright win.

The result also marks a return to the left for Bolivia. The present conservative caretaker government stepped in after Evo Morales, who governed for almost 14 years, was ousted last year.

On Monday, Arce’s Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party had already claimed victory in the election held the previous day, and Mesa conceded. Arce served as economy minister during the Morales era and is said to have been handpicked by the former leader, who resigned under pressure last year. However, the president-elect said on Tuesday he saw “no role” in his government for Morales, who still leads MAS from exile in Argentina.

“He will not have any role in our government,” Arce told Reuters. He said that the former leader can return to the country “because he’s Bolivian,” but added that the new president will decide who forms the administration.

The president-elect, who grew up in a middle class La Paz household, oversaw a nationalization program and commodities boom while minister. These policies helped provide funds to lift millions of indigenous Bolivians out of poverty in a period of sustained growth.

However, given the current recession, Arce warned that the government “will have to have austerity measures.”

Speaking on diplomatic ties with the US, which have been severed, Arce said: “If they want to reestablish a relationship with us, the only thing we ask for is that we are respected as equals.”

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Bolivia promises to buy Russian Covid-19 vaccine as new leader pledges to restore relations that ‘deteriorated’ after 2019 coup.

RT.com
26 Oct, 2020 18:42

The newly-elected President of Bolivia Luis Arce has pledged to improve ties with Russia, and plans to order its Covid-19 vaccine once it's ready for sale, saying relations with Moscow 'deteriorated' under the previous government.

In an interview with Moscow's Sputnik news agency, Arce outlined the numerous avenues for partnership with Russia that he wants to open up, including the exchange of technology, gas imports and construction of a new nuclear facility together with state energy corporation Rosatom.

Arce blamed the outgoing interim government for tainting the relationship between the two countries.

"I believe that Bolivia's relations with Russia deteriorated in the past 11 months due to the presence of the de facto government, which came to power thanks to a coup and which did not understand what is really behind the relations of our countries."

Arce said he would like to personally meet with Russian president Vladimir Putin as soon as possible and get the ball rolling on a new partnership.

The new leader also claimed that Bolivia is interested in buying Russia's 'Sputnik-V' coronavirus vaccine once it's mass-produced and available for export.

"I understand that the vaccine is not for sale yet, but I think it has been already discussed that Bolivia has become one of the first countries that could have it," the president said.

Russia became the first country to officially register a Covid-19 vaccine. The creators of Sputnik V, which is currently in its third and final stage of clinical trials, claim over 40 countries expressed their interest in it.

Arce has previously told the Spanish international news agency EFE that he also intends to restore relations with Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and China, adding that the previous government "has acted very ideologically," depriving the Bolivian people of access to medicine and technologies these countries offer.

Bolivia is currently recovering from a year of political turmoil. Incumbent President Evo Morales was declared the winner of last October's elections, but eventually agreed to a rerun and resigned from the post after widespread protests and accusations of fraud by Western observers.

Senior opposition lawmaker Jeanine Anez was declared interim president ahead of a new election, which was delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak. Arce, who succeeded Morales as leader of the socialist party, won in a landslide with over 55 percent of the vote. He's due to be inaugurated in late November.

[TsarSamuil]

Nicolas Maduro claims Colombia planning new mercenary attacks on Venezuela ‘at the end of this year’ or first days of 2021.

RT.com
29 Dec, 2020 14:28

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has alleged that forces inside Colombia, backed by the President Ivan Duque, are plotting to attack the Venezuelan military in the next couple of days.

“Colombia is preparing new attacks against the country's military, with trained mercenaries, with funding from [president] Ivan Duque, preparing attacks at the end of this year or the first days of 2021,” Maduro said in a Monday speech while praising the national armed forces.

The president was referencing a May incident, which greatly heightened tensions between Caracas and Bogota. Then, the Venezuelan military engaged a squad of armed individuals who were trying to infiltrate the country, killing several of them and capturing over a dozen, including two former US Green Berets.

The group also apparently had connections to local anti-government cells, which had provided them with vehicles and supplies.

The Venezuelan government pinned the blame for the failed incursion on Colombia and the US, with Maduro claiming that the group's objective was “to kill the president of Venezuela.” Both Bogota and Washington denied these accusations, dismissing them as “unfounded.”

The contentious incident itself came around a year after a failed military coup attempt led by the Venezuelan opposition headed by Juan Guaido, who was openly supported by the US and some of its allies.

[TsarSamuil]

EU backs away from Venezuela’s Guaido, joining US president-elect to suggest opposition leader is done.

RT.com
7 Jan, 2021 02:14

The EU has made a point of not calling former Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido by his adopted title, fueling speculation that the US might relax sanctions without requiring President Nicolas Maduro’s exit.

Europe will continue its “engagement” with all Venezuelan “political and social actors,” High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said on Tuesday. Rather than refer to Guaido by his self-appointed title of interim president, Borrell merely lumped him in with other representatives of the outgoing National Assembly elected in 2015.

Guaido's official status may have lapsed – his demand that loyal followers stay away from the polls didn’t exactly help his reelection prospects – but that hasn’t stopped Colombia and other Latin American nations vowing to continue recognizing the no-longer-legitimate government. December’s elections also saw the formation of a new legislative branch, rendering more of the National Assembly’s duties obsolete – or at least setting up a potential collision course between the 277 new National Assembly appointments and their predecessors, who officially ceased operations on Tuesday.

Guaido last month urged his dwindling number of supporters to “keep pushing” to overthrow Maduro, by force if necessary, because the president wouldn’t leave by choice. However, the erstwhile opposition leader’s last two attempts to foment a coup and bring the military to his side had failed embarrassingly – to say nothing of the botched kidnap attempt against Maduro led by American mercenaries.

While the US fervently denied responsibility for that attack, the paper trail led back to Washington, specifically a mercenary firm called Silvercorp. The US shut down all communications channels with Caracas following the raid, in what many took as an admission of guilt, and the Trump administration has since put a $15 million bounty on Maduro’s head, baselessly accusing the president of narco-terrorism.

The EU isn’t the only entity to give Guaido the cold shoulder. US President-elect Joe Biden has reportedly declined to take the opposition figure’s calls, hinting he will remove some of the sanctions choking Caracas if Maduro brings about “free and fair elections” – a loaded phrase that has come to define its opposite in the regime-change community.

Even fellow opposition figures have apparently had enough of the US-backed figurehead, with former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles urging other countries – but specifically the US – to ditch the idea of replacing Maduro with Guaido. Capriles hit back at Guaido’s claims of an unfair election by noting that 107 political organizations took part in the parliamentary vote, and just 20 of those walked off the ballot at Guaido’s urging.

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Pro-Trump Capitol invader tells Venezuelans to follow his example & take back their freedom (VIDEO)

RT.com
7 Jan, 2021 12:07

Storming the Capitol building in Washington DC sets a precedent for freedom-loving people in Venezuela and shows them that they too can defeat communism and globalism, according to one of the riot’s most colorful members.

“You can take back your country too. We are setting the example, we are setting the bar, we are setting the precedent,” said the Trump supporter, who stood out among the crowd of Capitol invaders thanks to his horned furry hat, face paint, and tattooed bare chest.

“You can take back your country. You can put an end to communism and to globalism. You too can take back your nation from this evil. You can win your country back, Venezuela,” he proclaimed.

The growling-voiced MAGA rebel, who attracted much attention after the Capitol siege, is a voice actor and minor celebrity in Arizona. Jake Angeli has been a prominent fixture of pro-Trump and anti-lockdown rallies since at least 2019.

He was previously interviewed about his belief that a global conspiracy of immoral elites are keeping common people subjugated while researching all kinds of secret technologies in underground bunkers. He was holding a sign saying “Q sent me” – referring to the QAnon conspiracy theory, which he adheres to.

The US political establishment decried the break-in on Capitol Hill as a disgrace. But it is also, remarkably, on the same side as Angeli when it comes to Venezuela.

Juan Guaido received a standing ovation when he appeared at Donald Trump’s State of the Union address last February, praised by Republicans and Democrats alike. The right-wing politician leading a widely unpopular Venezuelan political force declared himself the legitimate head of state in January 2019, after disputing the outcome of a presidential election. He led several attempts to violently overthrow the government, with about as much success as Angeli and other protesters had in preventing Joe Biden from being confirmed as the winner of the US presidential election.



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Twitter lists Guaido among ‘world leaders’ condemning Capitol takeover… forgets his attempt to storm Venezuelan parliament.

RT.com
7 Jan, 2021 13:30

A long list of world presidents and prime ministers condemning the invasion of pro-Trump protesters into the US Capitol building compiled by Twitter for some reason includes Venezuela’s Juan Guaido.

Guaido’s bid for presidency in Venezuela was launched two years ago with patronage from the Trump administration. The rationale was that he got elected president of the Venezuelan National Assembly and was supposed to take the reins after the “illegitimate” reelection of President Nicolas Maduro. However, in two years he has failed to take power in Caracas, so calling him a ‘world leader’ seems a bit of a stretch.

The EU notably distanced itself from Guaido this week, calling him merely one of the representatives comprising the “outgoing National Assembly elected in 2015,” rather than acting president. The Biden transition team reportedly refused to answer his phone calls.

Guaido may not be the best person to judge political violence. He and his supporters have staged a handful of unsuccessful coups in Venezuela over the past two years. At one point, he attempted to take over a military base in Caracas with the help of a few dozen soldiers. And even before entering the global stage with his bid, he played a significant role in violent right-wing anti-government protests.

He is also no stranger to invading legislatures. Almost exactly a year ago, he dramatically tried to climb over a fence surrounding the Venezuelan parliament on the day MPs elected politician Luis Parra to replace Guaido as its head. Critics say it was merely a PR stunt, considering that footage shot earlier in the day showed Guaido freely entering the building.

So Guaido’s presence on the Twitter list may raise some eyebrows. Then again, Twitter’s definition of a world leader may not be restricted to people leading a nation. The same compilation of posts includes one by Geert Wilders, the controversial Dutch businessman and politician who leads the opposition right-wing Party for Freedom.

The vocal opponent of the “Islamization of Europe” may be branded as a fascist by some of his critics, but he is an established part of Dutch politics. His party holds seats in both chambers of the Dutch parliament and has a representative in the European Parliament. This arguably makes his opinion more justified than that of Guaido.

[TsarSamuil]

Nearly 50 years on, Chileans finally exorcise the ghost of Pinochet – will this herald an anti-US ‘Latin American spring’?

RT.com
18 May, 2021 13:51

Voting for an historic constitutional assembly hands victories to leftist and independent candidates over the ruling right-wing government and paves the way for a long-awaited progressive ‘new Chile.’

Following years of protest and unrest, Chile’s vote on a constitutional convention has delivered a political earthquake. Chileans have elected a “left-leaning” assembly, overturning a neoliberal political status quo that has governed the country for decades, following the US-backed coup of the 1970s.

The vote paves the way for widespread reforms in what has been traditionally known as the most free-market and capitalist country in Latin America, but also one that is strikingly unequal. Crucially, center-right conservative parties failed to secure a critical one-third of seats in the body that will draft the new constitution over the next year, meaning they lack the votes to veto radical proposals.

It also gives the left a springboard to November’s key presidential elections when the centre-right ruler, Sebastián Piñera, who has repeatedly been accused of being out of touch, looks odds-on to lose.

Chile’s stock market dived and its currency fell in value as businesses took fright at the victory of the left and independents. Gabriel Boric, of the Broad Front, predicted it would mean major changes. “We are looking for a new treaty for our indigenous populations, to recover our natural resources, build a state that guarantees universal social rights,” he said. “We’re going to start from scratch and build a new Chile”.

Events in Santiago are hardly standalone in South America; they follow a trend, which has also been seen in Colombia, of popular discontent amongst young people demanding change.

Chile, the world’s largest copper producer, is a country that has suffered enormous upheaval, yet has simultaneously been somewhat more economically successful and more stable than many of its neighbours, but has been mired by historical controversy. It has been under the stranglehold of the US, and while it cannot be branded a total failure, few would find that a justifiable excuse for Washington’s long-standing interference.

In the 1970s, the United States did as it continues to do today, aggressively enforcing its ‘Monroe Doctrine’ approach to the Americas against the backdrop of the Cold War, aggressively stomping out any Communist-leaning state either by fomenting a coup d’etat, civil war or even an outright invasion.

The last time Chileans voted emphatically for the left was in 1970, when Salvador Allende, a Marxist, was democratically elected as president. American opposition to him was long entrenched, with the CIA having invested up to $5 million into his political opponents in its attempt to undermine him and try to stop him from being confirmed in office.

With Richard Nixon in the White House and Henry Kissinger as secretary of state, it was an administration that leaned towards a brutal, realist foreign policy. The CIA’s failure to stop Allende getting elected moved quickly to Plan B, which involved initiating a direct military coup to remove him from power.

Thus came the rise of army general Augusto Pinochet, who, backed by the US, overthrew Allende in 1973; the 65-year-old president was found dead, in what was an apparent suicide, as troops stormed the presidential palace.

Pinochet quickly became the most notorious of Latin America's 20th-century military rulers. He brutally suppressed left-wingers, killing, interning and torturing thousands. He initiated a radical program of neoliberalism which involved wide-scale privatization, reduction of tariffs, restrictions on trade unions and anti-welfare policies. He ruled between 1973 and 1990, after which he remained as army commander-in-chief, then senator-for-life, and bestrode the final decades of the Cold War in the region.

His western-backed regime had a profound influence on Margaret Thatcher, who assumed power in Britain in the same decade and embraced him as a friend and ally.

Despite the brutality of his rule, not all of Pinochet’s economic policies were a failure, strictly speaking. On paper, he seemingly created the most financially stable country in all Latin America with the strongest bond ratings and a GDP per capita of $25,000, persistently leading all South American countries on most counts. It has avoided the economic stagnation seen in Brazil and Argentina, among others.

However, what about the ordinary person? Did much, or any, of the country’s wealth trickle downwards? Not much – for all its rosy achievements, as a neoliberal, oligarchic state, Chile became deeply unequal, causing resentments and dissatisfactions that have now reached boiling point. This uneven playing field, where the elites enjoy massive privileges while the impoverished majority have little, caused violent, mass uprisings in 2019, sparked by a planned increase in the price of metro fares.

This state of affairs is the final legacy of Pinochet. A neoliberal state which created a prosperous society, but a far from fair one; a society which worked very well for some, but badly for most. In electing a radical left-wing constitutional convention which will now dismantle the rules and system Pinochet inaugurated, a revolution is taking place which rejects his economic doctrine.

In Latin America, Chile is not alone. Similar unrest has been sweeping Colombia, and for near identical reasons. There is an obvious pattern: the United States supports or installs a regime it politically dominates, and which implements free-market fundamentalism and anti-socialist policies, which upsets the majority of the population.

Thus, this is a potential ‘Latin American Spring,’ a momentous set of uprisings in search of more equal and fairer policies, a longstanding struggle by the ordinary people of the continent against those elites backed by the United States.

From his tomb in Santiago’s General Cemetery, where his remains were interred after initially spending three decades in an unmarked grave, Salavador Allende may be smiling at the prospect of that.

Five thousand miles north, there are more likely to be frowns. Forty-eight years on since overthrowing one leftist regime in Chile, what will Washington do now?

[TsarSamuil]

China moves onto USA’s doorstep by signing up Cuba to Belt & Road. Will it cause a standoff like the 1962 missile crisis?

RT.com
21 Oct, 2021 13:28

As the United States ratchets up its support for Taiwan as a regional chess piece against China, Beijing may also be positioning Havana as a counterweight. The move is sure to enrage Washington.

Cuba this week signed up to China's Belt and Road (BRI) Energy Partnership, which is expected to see Beijing invest in the island's energy industries with a focus on renewables.

Cuba's ambassador to China stated that the agreement ratified his country's commitment to the Belt and Road Initiative and called for the building of an international mega-platform for economic exchanges, under the principle of shared profit.

While China-Cuba related investments are not new, this specific move comes amid growing geopolitical tensions with the United States, which has long had it in for Cuba, and is also seeking to market its own alternative to the BRI across Latin America, consolidating its relationships with the pro-US states in the region – Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador. There is another aspect to consider: as the United States ratchets up its support for Taiwan as a regional chess piece against China, Beijing may also be positioning Havana as a counterweight. While old Cold War tensions are not likely to repeat themselves, once again Cuba may become a flashpoint of attempts to check American power.

Cuba, just 90 miles from the Florida coast, is the island which the United States loves to hate. Over the past 60 years or so, the United States has found the idea of a communist state sitting so readily on its doorstep insufferable. Washington has devoted the bulk of these decades to attempting to forcefully contain it, crush it, and assassinate its leaders – particularly the charismatic revolutionary, Fidel Castro.

Even as recently as this year, Washington was ruthlessly hoping anti-regime protests on the island would escalate, even as it imposed more crippling sanctions. Whilst modern Cuba is now merely an annoyance to American ideologues, at the peak of the Cold War it was a strategic nightmare because of its ties to the Soviet Union. Moscow was able to use the island to facilitate a military check on American power, placing nuclear missiles there, leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. The much-feared nuclear conflict never occurred, but the Castro state's existence served the purpose of achieving equilibrium between the two and checking US adventurism.

Roll forwards to the present day, and the suggestion arises that Havana may be becoming strategically relevant yet again as the global geopolitical context becomes defined by a new great power competition, principally between the United States and China. Although the primary stage for this contest has become the area framed by the US as ‘the Indo-Pacific’, the island of Cuba, sitting in the Caribbean Sea and on America's periphery, becomes strategically relevant in moving the tensions away from China's proximity.

While Beijing is not seeking a global competition for hegemony with the US or to ramp up military tensions, nonetheless it needs a strategic response to attempts by the US to isolate it and contain it geographically, and part of this effort involves securing long-term partners with shared interests.

Cuba, as a fellow communist state, is a safe and reliable bet. Whilst Havana is not a military threat to the US – and nor will China use it that way – its elevation to becoming a more important strategic partner of China within the Belt and Road Initiative is useful in pushing back and competing with the US in the sphere of the Americas itself.

This chimes with the de-facto reality that Latin America as a whole is a growing sphere of US-China competition. Irrespective of ideology, China has been seeking to deepen and strengthen its economic and investment ties with a host of Latin American states and getting as many to join the BRI as will do so. It needs, for example, the backing of Mexico, Peru, and Chile to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which it has applied for.

Beijing is also commencing a bilateral free trade agreement with Uruguay. The poor economic situation of Central and South America has meant there is a general hesitancy to ‘lock China out’, even if many of its states are strategically loyal to the US. This has led Washington to try and sphere new initiatives to change that, recently sending delegations to Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama to plan a regional counter to the BRI.

So while Washington pivots to its most reliable partners, so does China in Cuba, which is well positioned to be its launchpad to the rest of the region. An ideal outcome in Beijing's eyes would be to succeed through its investments in economically transforming Cuba's fortunes, which would be politically detrimental to the US, weakening its influence in the region, while creating more ideological sway for China and thus winning over the fence sitters.

China's willingness to deepen ties with Cuba is illustrative of a broader strategic shift. In the past few years, Beijing may have been too wary of getting close to Havana for fear of upsetting the US or diluting its unilateral sanctions, but as the new reality of US-China competition has crystalized, and as Washington has sought to exploit the role of Taiwan, Cuba naturally becomes a means to push back.

This new Sino-Cuba allegiance may not take on a military character – it’s unlikely we’ll see satellite imagery of Dongfeng ballistic missiles being installed on the island – but the reasons behind it are the same as in times gone by. And it has the capability of being a very annoying thorn in the side of an increasingly concerned and restive America.

[TsarSamuil]

China’s foray into America’s backyard angers Washington (and London)

RT.com
7 Feb, 2022 16:59

The president of Argentina, Alberto Fernandez, recently attended the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Beijing. The next day, he met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People, where he signed Argentina up to the Belt and Road Initiative, while also penning an $8 billion nuclear power plant deal to be financed and built by Chinese firms.

In a joint statement, both countries also affirmed Argentina's sovereign claims over the disputed Malvinas/Falkland Islands – a gesture which, while not a new position for either country, drew the ire of UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Twitter.

In tandem with this, the president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, was also in town, and, despite his government traditionally being a more US-aligned administration, he later announced talks on a bilateral free trade agreement with China. Despite the absolutely relentless propaganda campaign the Western media has waged against these Games, with wall-to-wall negative coverage, China has nevertheless made considerable diplomatic headway during them.

These movements reveal a growing trend: China is engineering a pivot towards Latin America, one welcomed by many countries in the region. It’s a move that has consolidated as these nations’ long-standing ties with the US and its allies have deteriorated. In the past two months or so alone, China has established ties with Nicaragua and booted out Taiwan, has brought it into the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), has elevated Cuba's status in the BRI to that of a “strategic energy partner,” has brought Argentina on board, and has pursued free trade talks with not only Ecuador, but Uruguay too. What does this all mean?

As the United States has sought to advance containment against it, China's foreign policy emphasis has been on deepening ties with countries outside the sphere of the West, with no particular focus on any region. It also consolidated its partnership with Russia during Putin's visit to the opening ceremony, accelerated a free trade agreement with the Gulf states, and brought Syria into the BRI too.

China is strategically fortifying the range of its economic relationships in order to put the buffers on the impact of American-led decoupling and more broadly integrate itself into the global economy. The more China wraps up trade deals with others and pushes the BRI forwards, the less political space and clout the US has to harm China. Its expansion of partnerships beyond the Western sphere has been critical.

But in the case of Latin America – traditionally Washington’s backyard – there are other factors at play, too. Whilst some states, such as Cuba and Nicaragua, are seen as political and ideological bulwarks, the push by countries such as Argentina and Ecuador to accelerate ties is also driven by unfavorable economic conditions. South America's recent economic situation has been one of stagnation. Argentina has seen its economy crippled by an enormous fiscal and currency crisis which seen the value of the peso decimated. Since 2018, Argentina's GDP per capita has almost halved, and the country has come under considerable pressure from the IMF.

Ecuador is an oil exporting state with a close relationship to the United States, but it has relied significantly on China as its biggest export market and financier. China's strategy with poorer oil-producing states has been to effectively barter the procurement of oil in exchange for loans and infrastructure investment, as it is currently doing in Iraq.

The US, through its International Development Finance Corporation, has tried to stop this with Ecuador by proposing a deal whereby it will pay off the country’s debt to China in exchange for banning Huawei. But the fact that Lasso has ultimately gone to Beijing, seeking both debt relief and a free trade agreement (obviously intending to sell more oil to China), may indicate that this strategy is failing. Struggling Latin American economies are turning to China because they are disillusioned with the options provided by the US, which has for decades been happy to promulgate gross inequality in its own backyard.

There is an additional political dynamic here, too. Most striking about the China-Argentina joint statement was the inclusion of the Falkland Islands issue. This stance is not new, but it is significant that Beijing was willing to bring it up at this point. It was undoubtedly a diplomatic request from Fernandez as part of the deal to join the BRI. Its inclusion, however, was nonetheless a clear slap in the face for Britain and a knockback for the increasingly aggressive anti-China policy it is pursuing under Liz Truss. It is a signal to Britain that if the United Kingdom continues to push on issues China deems sensitive, such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet, and Xinjiang, China has diplomatic leverage to hit back by openly backing Argentina's claims to the Falklands/Malvinas, emboldening Argentina in the same way anti-China sentiment has emboldened Taiwan, creating geopolitical difficulty for the UK.

This is why the relationship between Buenos Aires and Beijing is not just described as economic, but also strategic. It is similar to China's relationship with Pakistan, forged on an overlapping area of interests in pushing back against a common adversary.

Britain proceeded to react with shock and outrage at this development, but this is ultimately and inevitably a direct product of the international environment it has created alongside the US. When you create geopolitical friction, other countries will utilize that friction in pursuit of their own interests, and in Argentina's case, they are doing just that. If Britain had not decided to jeopardize its relationship with China at America’s request, then Beijing would have been more restrained.

The changing geopolitical realities have accelerated China's ties with the countries of Latin America. Although traditionally a bastion of US hegemony, a deeply uneven economic order has created an entry point for Beijing. Its Belt and Road Initiative offers countries there a different path, away from decades of unsuccessful neoliberal policies, and that's why two South American leaders made their way to Beijing.

While the Winter Games go on, so do the political games. In the space of just a few days, it seems clear where the gold medal for seizing the diplomatic initiative is heading.

[TsarSamuil]

U.S. outreach to Venezuela strengthens Maduro, sidelines Guaidó.

washingtonpost.com
By Ana Vanessa Herrero and Samantha Schmidt
Yesterday at 6:00 a.m. EST

CARACAS, Venezuela — As Biden administration officials met with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in his palace over the weekend, the highest-level U.S. contact with the socialist state in years, they left one notable leader out of the plans.

Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader whom the United States recognizes as this South American nation’s rightful president, wasn’t informed of the Americans’ visit until after they had met with Maduro, according to four people familiar with the events. And while U.S. officials were in touch with Guaidó during their trip, they didn’t meet face to face, according to the four, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

The rare U.S. visit Saturday with Maduro, who has been indicted by U.S. prosecutors on narcoterrorism charges, was a stunning shift in policy toward Venezuela, underscoring the global shake-up prompted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The United States is trying to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin, a key Maduro ally, and secure alternatives to Russian oil.

It appeared to deliver results for the United States when Maduro released two Americans detained by the government.

But it also strengthened Maduro at a time when Guaidó and his allies, still recognized by the United States as Venezuela’s interim government, struggle to remain relevant. The trip signals the U.S. administration’s willingness to deal directly with Maduro, giving him legitimacy that Maduro and his allies are already touting as a win.

“The loser in all of these actions by the United States is the opposition, but especially the interim government,” said an opposition figure who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter.

Neither the State Department nor Guaidó would confirm or deny whether the U.S. officials met with Guaidó during the trip. The State Department has said it will continue to support Guaidó as interim president. It has repeatedly called on Maduro to return to negotiations with the opposition — talks that have been frozen for five months but could be revived in the new U.S. outreach.

A senior Biden administration official said the delegation informed opposition leaders of its visit but kept the details “very restricted” given the sensitivity of the effort to secure the release of detained Americans. The official said the trip was in the works for months, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine “changed the international environment significantly, and we just saw a window to travel.”

“The international community and even representatives of the opposition have urged us to convey directly to the regime the importance of returning to the negotiating table for dialogue, and that’s what we did,” the official said. “There is no dialogue between us and the regime.”

The U.S. delegation met with Gerardo Blyde, the lead opposition negotiator in the talks with the Maduro government, according to the four people. Blyde later briefed opposition leaders. He declined to comment.

Guaidó’s interim government also declined to comment. In a statement Wednesday, it reiterated its willingness to return to negotiations. It thanked the U.S. government for its support of the interim government, and insisted that any sanctions relief must be conditioned on real progress toward democracy.

Maduro described the meeting with U.S. officials as “respectful” and “very diplomatic,” and said the two countries “agreed to work on an agenda moving forward.” Speaking on Venezuelan state television Monday, he said his government had “decided to reactivate the national dialogue process.” Some interpreted that as a commitment to return to negotiations. Others, including top Maduro ally Diosdado Cabello, a key member of Venezuela’s National Assembly, said the president needs certain conditions met.

Cabello celebrated the meeting as conveying at least a kind of recognition of Maduro. “All Venezuelans and the world should applaud,” he said Wednesday. “Things are falling into place.”

The U.S. delegation included Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs; Juan Gonzalez, the National Security Council’s senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs; and Jimmy Story, the U.S. ambassador to Venezuela.

The sides discussed the possibility of easing sanctions on oil exports from Venezuela. The U.S. officials also worked to secure the release of detained Americans. On Tuesday, the Venezuelan government released Gustavo Cárdenas, one of six executives of Citgo Petroleum who were arrested in November 2017, and Jorge Alberto Fernández, a tourist who was accused of terrorism for flying a drone early last year.

“We have a set of interests with Venezuela that include, of course, supporting the democratic aspirations of the Venezuelan people,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday. “They include securing the release of Americans unjustly detained there. It is also true that we have an interest globally in maintaining a steady supply of energy, including through our diplomatic efforts.”

The United States and Venezuela broke off diplomatic relations in 2019, after Maduro claimed victory in an election widely seen as fraudulent and the Trump administration recognized Guaidó, then the National Assembly president, as the country’s rightful leader.

But Guaidó has little practical authority in the country and little influence outside. The number of countries who recognize him as interim president has shrunk; he acknowledged to The Washington Post in November that if the United States were to withdraw its support, “it would be difficult for us to face a dictatorship of these characteristics.”

Maduro’s party claimed sweeping wins in last year’s regional elections, the first to include the country’s top opposition parties in years. The country’s fractured pro-democracy movement struggled to compete against a government with more resources and tight control of the electoral system.

“It’s been very clear for the past two years that Maduro has control of the territory,” said David Smilde, a senior fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America who focuses on Venezuela. “It’s recognition, it’s something that can give Maduro a sort of a victory lap, but it doesn’t mean a very big change at this point.”

Smilde said the trip was long overdue and provided an opportunity to “shake up the tragic equilibrium.” If it leads to a return to negotiations, he said, it could empower the opposition. But if U.S. officials continue to talk directly with Maduro, the opposition could be further weakened.

The trip has drawn intense criticism from Biden allies in Congress. The administration also risked antagonizing other crucial partners in Latin America, particularly Colombia, whose president had a previously scheduled meeting with Biden on Thursday.

A former State Department official described the visit as poorly managed. Guaidó, the Colombian government and other key international partners, he said, “were blindsided or, at best, partially informed at the last moment.”

“The perception as to who came out ahead in this exchange is demonstrated by the fact that the [administration] said nothing about it at all until pressed, while Maduro dedicated a national … broadcast boasting of the meeting,” the official said. “When you produce an outcome where the good guys criticize and the bad guys celebrate, you probably have a bad outcome.”

Venezuela’s two most important neighbors are led by Maduro adversaries: Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and Iván Duque in Colombia. But elections in both countries this year are expected to continue the leftward swing seen in recent votes in Chile and Peru and bring governments friendlier to his socialist government.

“It’s obviously not lost on Maduro that if he can come out of this year strengthened, that positions him pretty well going into 2024,” when Venezuela is expected to hold its next presidential election, said former State Department official Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas in Washington.

The U.S. visit appears to have done little so far to drive a wedge between Maduro and the Kremlin. On Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez in Turkey. Rodriguez said that she was “very happy” to see the Russian minister, according to Russian news agency Interfax.

“The United States and their allies are trying to play other countries against each other,” Lavrov reportedly said. “And it will not be a success.”

[TsarSamuil]

Sanctions won't bring peace – Argentinian FM.

RT.com
24 Apr, 2022 08:31

Sanctions will not help to achieve peace and foster dialogue, over the conflict in Ukraine, Argentinian Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero told the Telam news agency on Saturday, adding that his country will not join those placing restrictions on Russia.

“What Argentina seeks and proposes is a return to dialogue,” the diplomat said in Rome, where he met with his Italian counterpart, Luigi Di Maio.

Cafiero also said that Buenos Aires does not even have a regulatory framework for unilateral sanctions, and instead has a law that prevents these types of actions by the government. His government addresses the challenge that the world faces today “with a call for peace,” he added.

“We honestly do not believe that imposing sanctions or blockades will be productive for peace, dialogue, and diplomatic negotiations.”

Speaking about the role of sanctions in the Latin American region, Cafiero said that “what this type of action … has generated is greater inequality and greater setbacks from a social point of view.”

Argentina was also one of the few nations – alongside Mexico and Brazil – that abstained during the vote on suspending Russia’s status as a permanent observer to the Organization of American States (OAS) over its actions in Ukraine. The resolution was still passed earlier this week and was lauded by the US as a “clear message to the Kremlin.”

“The overwhelming number of countries in the Americas called upon the Kremlin to end its unconscionable war of choice, withdraw its forces, and comply with international law,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on Thursday.

The US and its allies in Europe and beyond have imposed an unprecedented number of sanctions against Russia over its military offensive. The restrictions target Moscow’s financial and banking sectors, space and aviation industries, as well as fuel exports.