Dictatorships from the Americas are Russian launching bases that threaten peace and security

(Interamerican Institute for Democracy) Twenty-First Century Socialism, or Castrochavism, under the command of Cuba with its system of violation of human rights and State-terrorism, controls Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua and has turned these countries into narco-States, centers of conspiracies and of transnational organized crime who -with an anti-imperialism narrative- have surrendered their sovereignty and independence to Russia, thus becoming its launching bases that threaten the peace and security of the Americas.

Russia’s invasion to Ukraine signaled the beginning of the “First Global War” that I have defined as “the generalized conflict that involves all States but in which the armed conflict is limited to specific areas and parties, a conflict in which there is no neutrality and none of the States are excluded.” In a World War the armed confrontation is generalized, in a Global War the armed fight is limited, however, none of the States are impartial. All States have an economic, political, social, communicational, and technological role or participation because this is a conflict which the globalized world does not allow for any State to be excluded.

Currently, the Global War has as active fronts; the Invasion of Russia into Ukraine, the conflict in Gaza as a consequence of Hamas’ inhumane attack against Israel, and the attacks of the Houthis, the terrorist group from Yemen backed by Iran, who attack commercial vessels who transit the Red Sea and the Suez Canal where 12% of the world’s commercial trade navigates. There are hot zones such as that of the two Koreas, those from China against Taiwan and the Philippines, and now we must add those in the Americas threatened by dictatorships from 21st Century Socialism, subordinated and at the service of -in varying degrees- Russia, China, and Iran.

The First Global War that we are experiencing reflects the axis of confrontation to be between democracy and dictatorships. Dictatorships are the ones who perpetrate invasions, armed attacks, terrorism, threaten peace and security, and use these as weapons for internal and international violence, and as their basic mechanism for expansion. Democracies remain on the defensive, defenseless at times, based on their principles and values, but nevertheless seriously compromised by the economic, political, communicational, and technological mechanisms of the dictatorships.

This is not a repeat of the “Cold War” that “was the conflict for the supremacy of the world and for the imposition of a political, economic, ideological, and cultural model of Communism from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) or the Capitalism from the United States of America (USA).” In the Cold War, the USSR and the USA were the undisputed world powers in a bipolar world and although they did not have direct military engagements, they had indirect battlefronts, or subsidiary fights that included guerrilla warfare. Currently, the two groups comprised by dictatorships and democracies have unclear and competitive chains of command who are coordinated on the basis of a common enemy, as has been proven by the global dictatorial axis of Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea.

Dictatorships in the Americas have a boss and that is Cuba, who controls the regimes from Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua including their internal and foreign affairs. Dictatorships have a direct influence over governments it has established in democratic countries, these are “Para Dictatorial” governments who serve the dictatorships. Russia, as well as China and Iran who are its main allies to sustain its invasion to Ukraine, all use the dictatorships of the Americas as launching bases.

During the Cold War, Cuba’s dictatorship was a satellite of the USSR and its attacks against the Americas and part of Africa. Because of the continued development of Castroist’s leaders and the desperate state of misery the dictatorship has taken the Cuban peoples into, Putin’s Russia includes a prolongation of Cuba’s dependence. Cuba has gone beyond being just a Russian base to now be the main launching base for the Russian dictatorship and now with “Cuba’s and Russia’s military exercises that include three warships and a submarine in the Caribbean, heightens the threat against regional peace and security.” Thousands of Cubans have been recruited to be part of the Russian forces invading Ukraine. The internal repression in Cuba is sustained by Russian training and equipment.

Venezuela has Russian operational military installations as was shown in 2019 when the “Legitimate Government of Venezuela” was established and Russia mobilized its military personnel to back dictator Nicolas Maduro. Nicaragua is equipped with and the dictatorship is trained and sustained by Russian personnel and equipment and this past 6th of June they reported that “Representatives from Russia and Nicaragua reviewed in Moscow, the programs of cooperation, development, and technical-military exchange.” Under the direction of Cuba, dictatorial Bolivia with Evo Morales entered into an agreement with Russia on a nuclear energy program as a mechanism to deliver strategic resources of Lithium, Uranium, and Luis Arce just visited Putin “stamping Bolivia’s alignment with Russia.”

*Attorney & Political Scientist. Director of the Interamerican Institute for Democracy.

Translation from Spanish by Edgar L. Terrazas