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OPINION:
While the free world continues to sound the alarm about Russia’s influence in Europe, little attention has been paid to the damage Moscow is causing in America’s hemisphere. Russian state media mixes fact with fiction to create confusion, trigger emotions and diminish trust in democratic institutions.
The Kremlin’s false narratives, which appear in Russian state-sponsored press reports, social media platforms and the personal pages of Kremlin officials, influence Hispanic Americans and Latin Americans to distrust the United States and support candidates and policies that favor Moscow.
RT (Russia Today) en Español has offices throughout Latin America and more than 200 Spanish-speaking employees in Moscow. In 2023, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford found that “RT en Español is more successful than any of the other services of RT, which include English, Arabic, German and French,” and that “Spanish-language channels became even more important after Vladimir Putin launched [a] full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.”
The most used key word in RT en Español website’s news subheadlines is “EEUU,” the abbreviation for the United States in Spanish, according to a 2020 analysis done by the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab. The council also found that RT en Español’s Facebook page shared more links about the U.S. than any Latin American country.
Russian disinformation attempts to exploit Latin Americans’ historical memory of foreign interference and neocolonial exploitation. In October, shortly after Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Chilean President Gabriel Boric suggested that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro lost the July 28 presidential election, Sputnik Mundo, a Spanish language Russian state-sponsored media agency, reported that they were working as covert “CIA agents.” It also reported that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was engaging in a “terrorist plan” to seize Venezuelan oil.
During October, the Digital News Association, which tracks Russian disinformation, documented 610 mentions of the CIA by Russia-sponsored media.
Latin Americans fear military juntas, and Russian disinformation plays on this as well. Other stories in Sputnik Mundo reported that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) was igniting a civil war in Spain and that U.S. armed forces were “trying to take control” of President Biden’s “Ukraine policy.”
The plans of President Trump to introduce tariffs have produced concern in Latin America, and this area, too, is a target for Russian disinformation. In an attempt to create solidarity with Latin Americans, Russia has depicted U.S. tariffs as a tool to damage regional economies and “intensify … covert operations.”
After Mr. Trump announced he would raise tariffs on Mexico, Russian state media reported that the U.S. would “break the value chains between the Mexican and American economies” and spark a “trade war” with China. Sputnik said U.S. legislation escalating sanctions against the Maduro regime was proposed to “appease Latino voters in Florida” and “allow U.S. agencies to operate in Venezuela under the pretext of humanitarian aid or national security.”
While vilifying the U.S., Russia seeks to depict itself as a defender of Christianity. In an op-ed article in the Argentine newspaper Perfil, Russia’s ambassador to Argentina, Dmitry Feoktistov, claimed that Ukraine was persecuting Christians by banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The ambassador said it was “unfortunate” that Buenos Aires had not condemned “abuses” against the church.
In reality, the Ukrainian law affects institutions linked to Russian espionage operations. Targeting Argentina with these narratives is not surprising. Russia wants to establish ties with Argentine Catholics and undermine Argentine President Javier Milei, who is one of the Latin American leaders most disliked by the Kremlin.
On Oct. 7, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Bolivian President Luis Alberto Arce Catacora all took to social media to congratulate Russian President Vladimir Putin on his birthday and describe him as a “friend” who achieved “victory” for “social justice.” Their comments were republished by the Cuban state press agency Prensa Latina, which has a presence in more than 30 countries, and the Russian state press agencies Tass and RIA Novosti.
Russia rewards the loyalty of its Latin American allies by legitimizing their authoritarian measures. Russia Today supported sweeping constitutional changes in Nicaragua that tightened Mr. Ortega’s control of the state. It said the changes would “defeat poverty and guarantee peace.”
In some respects, Latin America is a promising target for Russian disinformation. The region has had less exposure to Russian tactics than other parts of the world. This is why the U.S. needs to be aware of the Russian disinformation efforts in countries that we want as reliable allies.
Russia seeks support — political, military and economic — for its war against Ukraine all over the world, including in America’s region.
• Jeffrey Scott Shapiro is a journalist who has reported on Russian affairs. He served as a senior adviser and director for the U.S. Office of Cuba Broadcasting from 2017-2021 and now oversees the Digital News Association’s Latin America Disinformation Tracking Initiative, which identifies Kremlin narratives aimed at Spanish-language audiences.
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