“War Machinery”. While the powers block them, Russian state media is still going strong in Latin America

The European Union (EU) vetoed the transmissions of two media outlets, Sputnik and Russia Today (RT), to fight against their information manipulation and because they are “part of the war machine” from Moscow. A decision vehemently defended in Brussels, but which also has detractors for what it would mean as a violation of press freedom.

It’s about two media followed in the regionat the same pace as TeleSurwith a presence “very, very significant at crucial moments in the recent history of the region”, assures Patricia Villegas, president of Chavista television.

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Countries like Uruguay have already joined the European initiative with the withdrawal of the RT channel in Spanish of the programming of its public television platform because it justifies “Russia’s violent military invasion of Ukraine”. Internet giants like Google, Facebook, Youtube and TikTok and the DirecTV platform have also chosen to restrict the media from Vladimir Putin.

Scenes of destruction at the foot of the Kiev TV tower

“These are Russian government disinformation tools now blocked in many parts of the world”included Latin Americaargues the political scientist Georg Eickhoff, who has worked in both Ukraine and Venezuela.

What is the importance achieved by these media in Latin America? Ecuadorian analyst Martín Pallares shoots at the center of the target: “They are media that for a large part of the population in the region, particularly in Ecuador, appear as international media brands., serious, that could be perfectly confused with the BBC in London. Not everyone is clear about the direct relationship they have with the Putin government as a propaganda tool.”

From the Russian channels not only have the political positions of continental leftists and populists been legitimized, but also of the three dictatorships of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaraguadespite the constant violation of human rights and facing accusations of committing crimes against humanity.

President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. DPA. (Kremlin).

“The communicational power of these propaganda media is in the repeater antennas of allied regimes in the region. Not only from other propaganda media, but also from leaders, journalists, commentators, academics, who use the disinformation they send from the Kremlin”, highlights the political scientist Walter Molina Galdi, who believes that these Russian channels lived their best moment during the stages of government of Hugo Chávez, Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva and other leftist leaders in the region. “Now things have changed, because from Twitter or TikTok the image worked by Putin for almost three decades has been undressed. Latin America has not been the exception”, sentences Molina.

The Russian and revolutionary double platform has also copied what the newspaper Granma, official organ of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC)had become one of its hallmarks: the quaint news post to ridicule or criticize both the United States and other Western countriesshowing its supposed decline.

“They have sought to undermine and weaken the values ​​of the West. In fact, they are the media that interceded the most and sent the most information in favor of Catalan separatism and Brexit, key issues for Putin’s vision and his geopolitics, which is basically to destroy what he considers his enemies, which is the European Union, The West and its values, such as democracy and freedom of expression”, explains Pallares.

One of the great stars of RT, the former Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa, headed the first statement of the Puebla Group on the invasion of Ukrainein which the cessation of sanctions against Russia that had just been imposed was demanded.

“When Correa appeared on RT doing interviews, he was seen as a less strident voice of 21st century socialism. Seeing him on an international channel had the effect of being a focused politician, neither as crazy nor as ignorant as Nicholas Maduronor a type as rustic as Daniel Ortega. In parallel, Correa’s voice also legitimized those positions”, specifies Pallares.

Now, Correa no longer works at RT. “We have information from the government that Putin’s gesture of goodwill towards President Guillermo Lasso was to withdraw that RT program. Indeed, Correa worked as an agent of Putin”, sentences the Ecuadorian analyst.

Moscow reaction

The Kremlin has reacted immediately to the “strong restrictions” of its channels with the change of satellite to broadcast in the regionin addition to the invitation to see their propaganda through Telegramthe platform odyssey and V.K..

“They fear that the world will know the truth through RT and Sputnik”Maduro cried out last night, while viciously attacking the Spanish and European press for their coverage of the invasion of Ukraine. Since he came to power nine years ago, Maduro has multiplied in Venezuela the purchase of media, closure, censorship, economic suffocation and persecution of journalists to form a powerful communication hegemony.

Maduro, received by Putin in Moscow. (Sergei Chirikov – AFP).

“We must not underestimate this enormous propaganda apparatus [TeleSur, RT, Granma y otros]because is one of the greatest assets of the world’s autocrats, but in Venezuela today we have many years of learning. This device does not mark public opinion today, because the Venezuelan learned to inform himself by other means that, despite the false information, usually show the truth much more. It is no longer TeleSur or Globovisión [canal de noticias comprado por boliburgueses al servicio del Palacio de Miraflores] what marks public opinion, but the social mediawhich must include WhatsAppthe one with the highest penetration in the country”, concludes Molina.

By Daniel Lozano

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Source: Elcomercio