/ world today news/ The rapid growth of Russia’s influence in Latin America became evident after the tour of our Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in a number of countries of the region. Washington’s reaction was lightning fast and hysterical.
The United States is building new plans to destroy Russia’s allies in the Western Hemisphere – Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. At the same time, the first and main blow is planned to be delivered against Venezuela.
A strange summit
When the Russian Foreign Minister recently made a tour of Latin American countries (Brazil, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba), the American press sharply criticized President Biden for missing this region and giving it to the Russians, who “easily make friends with Latin America” on the wave of a sharp increase in leftist tendencies in all countries of the region.
This hysterical reaction of the press reflects the sentiments of the White House residents themselves. The response of the administration in Washington to Lavrov’s trip to “America’s backyard” was lightning fast.
On April 20, when Lavrov had just arrived in Cuba, the White House “summoned” Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who met with Biden the same day. They discussed how Colombia could “help Venezuela get out of the political crisis.” But what does the Colombian Gustavo Petro have to do with it? And why were they discussing Venezuela?
The focus of the conversation between the two presidents was the “summit meeting on the crisis in Venezuela” scheduled for tomorrow, April 25, in Bogotá, which is being convened at the initiative of the president of Colombia.
The participation of foreign ministers from 19 countries from Europe, Latin America and the USA has already been announced. Biden and Petro discussed exactly “what to pay attention to” during the summit.
Formally, it is aimed at resuming the dialogue between the Venezuelan government and the local opposition, which, as the Americans expect, should lead to an agreement to hold “transparent presidential elections” scheduled for 2024. At the same time, it is curious that representatives of the Venezuelan government and opposition were not invited to Bogotá.
After his talks with Biden, Petro made the remarkable announcement that “sanctions against Venezuela will be lifted after free elections are held there.” This statement sounded like an order. And so it raised a lot of questions about President Petro’s role in this whole game.
Where does Gustavo Petro come from?
To understand the background of what is happening, let’s turn to Gustavo Petro’s past. He was known not only as a supporter of leftist views, which are very popular in all Latin American countries. He is one of the former leaders of the left-wing guerrilla organization “Movement 19 April” (Movimiento 19 de Abril, M-19), which has been waging an armed struggle against local authorities since 1970.
The M-19 was the second largest guerilla group in Colombia after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which in 1964 began its armed “revolutionary struggle” with the government “for the construction of the New Colombia, a society of social justice and social equality.” Similar slogans were used by M-19.
Both groups arose on the wave of so-called “Cuban socialism”, which hinted at the Colombian guerrilla movement’s sympathy for Cuba. It was probably like that at the first stage. However, the left-wing partisans quickly compromised themselves with ties to drug dealers and hostage-taking, in connection with which they received the name “narco-partisans” from the authorities.
The Cuban leadership, represented by Fidel Castro, publicly condemned the “fighting methods” of the Colombian guerrillas. As for Gustavo Petro personally, in 1990 he personally took part in establishing peace negotiations with the government and helped the authorities to stop the activities of M-19. He was granted amnesty and actively participated in the creation of the political party Democratic Alliance M-19 (AD M-19).
For Petro, as everyone believes, there is a trace of attachment to Cuban revolutionary ideas, which is shared by the current leadership of Venezuela.
And indeed, the former leftist guerrilla Gustavo Petro, who came to power a year ago and using his “pro-Cuban background”, began to play the role of “friend of Venezuela”. The local press attributed to him “an obsession that Venezuela should return to the democratic path and that international sanctions against it be lifted.”
Petro declared himself a “friend” of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, met with him several times and “reminded Maduro of the need to return to liberal democracy in order to normalize political life in Venezuela and make it the same as in the entire region. “
Trojan horse
There are strong reasons to believe that Gustavo Petro is playing the role of a Trojan horse and is acting not in the interest of the Maduro government, as he publicly presents himself, but in the interest of the United States. It was impossible to believe that the United States, controlling the breath of every Colombian politician, allowed to power in that country an avowed anti-American, a supporter of the Cuban revolution.
The current Colombian noise around Venezuela reinforces the version that Gustavo Petro is an anti-Venezuelan project planned by the States.
Colombia is the only country in Latin America that has the status of a NATO partner. And we must understand that the Colombian authorities do nothing without the consent of the United States. In no country in the region do Americans feel freer than in Colombia.
It was this country that was considered by the Americans as a springboard for a direct armed invasion of neighboring Venezuela. Venezuela left the headlines today due to the failure of all US attempts to remove the Maduro government, change the country’s regime and return control of the world’s largest oil fields to US companies. But US strategic plans for Venezuela have not changed.
Given that Colombia is a fiefdom of the United States in the broadest sense of the word, it cannot be ruled out that Washington contributed to the victory of Gustavo Petro in last year’s presidential election in Colombia to use it as “incorrect ruled Cossack” in relation to Venezuela.
The calculation that having a “history” of leftist views and an armed struggle against “American imperialism”, Gustavo Petro will easily please Nicolás Maduro and convince him to open the doors to Western observers in the 2024 presidential elections in exchange for the removal of US sanctions.
Change of tactics
Washington’s attempts to topple the Venezuelan government through sanctions, international isolation, coup attempts and the physical elimination of Maduro have all failed. Even the “Interim President Juan Guaido” project, which promised success to the Americans, did not work. Therefore, the Americans are now betting on “transparent elections” under the supervision of representatives of the USA, the European Union and the Organization of American States (OAS).
The United States’ task at the Bogota summit is to develop some sort of “international platform” to force Venezuelan President Maduro to resume talks with the Venezuelan opposition, which have been stalled since November 2021, and sign agreements with it for “transparent” presidential elections.
Any outcome of this election will benefit the United States. If Maduro loses, the task will be over. And if he wins, then his victory will be declared a fraud and the exact same power change plan that was played out in Bolivia in the 2019 presidential election will go into effect.
Then the OAS observers announced “falsification” in the counting of votes in favor of the incumbent President Evo Morales. This caused a coup d’état in Bolivia, Morales was forced to leave the country.
By the way, the exact same scenario played out even earlier, in 1989, in Nicaragua. Then, acting in the interests of the United States, the presidents of four Central American countries, under favorable pretexts, forced the president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, to sign at a meeting in the Salvadoran city of Costa del Sol (February 1989) the agreement drawn up by the president of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias, a “peace plan for Central America” that provided for the same “transparent elections”.
In fact, the text of the plan was developed in the USA. As a result, the population of Nicaragua was subjected to massive American propaganda, voters were bribed in the interest of the opposition.
The factor of people’s fatigue from a ten-year civil war – between the government forces and the pro-American contras – was used. The author of these lines, working during those years in Central America, witnessed the anti-Nicaraguan turn in the Costa del Sol.
Daniel Ortega was literally cornered in this meeting. And Soviet diplomacy did not recognize the trick in time. As a result, Ortega lost the election and was forced to hand over power to pro-American forces for years to come.
At the current Venezuelan summit in Bogotá, the role of the “intruder” played on the Costa del Sol by Costa Rican Oscar Arias will be played by Colombian Gustavo Petro. And if the Americans succeed in overthrowing Maduro with his help, Petro will receive the Nobel Peace Prize, as Arias received it for the operation against Ortega.
Why is Venezuela in the crosshairs?
The main target of the US attack is Venezuela, not Cuba or Nicaragua, where Ortega is back in power. Why? Because Venezuela is the energy donor of Havana and Managua. Without Venezuelan oil, these two countries, allies of Russia, are doomed to a sharp exacerbation of the economic crisis, which could cause public tensions critical of the Cuban and Nicaraguan authorities.
By removing Maduro and changing the socio-political system in Venezuela, the United States expects to automatically achieve the same in Cuba and Nicaragua, which will lose their oil supplies – and the populations of these countries may be driven to despair.
If there is no Venezuela, there will be no Cuba and Nicaragua. There will no longer be a “revolutionary Cuban example” in Latin America and, accordingly, Russian influence. This is the intention of the US. This is the multifaceted American response to Russia’s activism in their “backyard.”
Meanwhile, Nicolás Maduro expressed his “full support for the summit” in Bogota, saying the meeting “will strengthen Venezuela’s struggle to achieve respect for its sovereignty… and the final elimination of all unilateral coercive measures.”
But Maduro is a seasoned politician, and until now he was famous as a great specialist in solving American puzzles. We can only hope that the president of Venezuela understands the ingenious maneuvers that the US is doing around him with the help of its Colombian “friend”.
Translation: SM
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