Russian and Latin American deputies exchanged experience in combating Western hegemony

In Moscow on Sunday, as part of the first parliamentary conference “Russia – Latin America,” round tables were held at which deputies from two continents discussed a very wide range of pressing issues of domestic and foreign policy. The cross-cutting theme of the discussions was the fight against Western imperialism and its desire for a unipolar world. There was so much in common in the positions of the parliamentarians that the Russian side decided to make the forum an annual event.

The tone of the first Russian-Latin American interparliamentary conference, which, according to the organizers, attracted more than 200 foreign participants only, was set by President Vladimir Putin, who spoke at the opening of the forum on September 29. “Russia and the states of Latin America traditionally have a lot in common in their views on international issues,” he reminded numerous guests of the obvious. “Latin Americans have always strived for independence, and the history of your continent is full of the most striking examples of this.”

Even before the official start of the conference, a series of bilateral meetings with Latin American delegates was opened by State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin. On Friday he spoke with the President of the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN), Amado Serrud Acevedo, and senior representatives of the parliaments of Brazil and Honduras, and on Saturday he held talks with colleagues from Cuba, Bolivia and Venezuela. “The main thing is not to lose the spirit of struggle, Che once told me this. From now on, I will never use the word “tired,” the speaker of the Cuban parliament, Juan Lazo Hernandez, motivated his interlocutor. “If a politician gets tired, he needs to retire,” agreed the tireless Chairman of the State Duma.

At Sunday round tables open to the press, parliamentarians from two continents willingly confirmed the thesis of the Russian President about the similarity of views on international issues. A common thread running through all the issues discussed was the topic of condemnation of Western imperialism and all kinds of practices of imposing a unipolar world. In these same practices, the participants in the stated discussions, which, however, took place without any disputes, saw the root of all current troubles.

Thus, participants in a round table dedicated to security issues pointed out the extensive negative trace left by the self-proclaimed hegemon. “The global world and its ideology is an ideology about resources and territories, but not about people,” noted Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Irina Yarovaya (United Russia; United Russia) and briefly presented to the audience the revealing findings of the Russian parliamentary commission that investigated the activities of US biolaboratories in Ukraine . To the dangers of a biological nature, the moderator of the discussion, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Pyotr Tolstoy (ER) added cyber threats and environmental risks: “We, as parliamentarians, must respond to all the challenges that our voters face in the 21st century.” The Russians proposed to do this jointly on all available international platforms.

Representative of the Mercosur Parliament (economic and political agreement between Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Venezuela) Elena Mercedes Corregido, in turn, emphasized the burning problem for Latin American countries – violent crimes provoked by high levels of social inequality: “Poverty, corruption and crime – The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. The majority of the population does not receive support from the state, and this model is supported by the existing unfair (worldwide.— “Kommersant”) financial system”. She also called for “working together” to ensure that global “financial systems do not influence our destinies.”

Representatives of Ecuador, Colombia and Peru also complained about crime, but this time it was organized and connected with another problem of the continent – drug trafficking. “Capital holders have reduced the role of the state (in the fight against drug trafficking.— “Kommersant”) to a minimum,” said Ecuadorian parliamentarian Leonardo Carrion. “We need more institutions, statehood and equality.” At the same time, it is impossible to defeat drug cartels through wholesale militarization, as the United States proposed, noted Colombian Senator Gloria Schneider: “Security can only be achieved through dialogue, which will be an alternative to what the Western world offers us. Military bases and strategies that come from outside do not bring anything good.”

The United States and the entire “golden billion” received even more at the round table “A Just Multipolar World: The Role of Parliamentary Diplomacy.” “The unipolar model is imposed by the capitalist world, plundering our resources, plunging millions of people into poverty and enriching itself at the expense of the entire population of the planet,” said Vice-Speaker of the National Assembly of Nicaragua Anna Alonso Gomez. However, according to the forecasts of the deputy chairman of the National Assembly of Venezuela, Valentina Perez Da Villa, the unipolar model will not last long: “We are witnesses to a world-class transformation: everything that formed the basis of the US global hegemony is changing, a multi-center, multi-polar world is being formed.” The deputy also expressed the belief that the concept of the “end of history” does not work, the “ideal model” of the political structure of all countries has failed, and democracy in the United States itself “does not correspond to real democracy.”

The same points were echoed by previous speakers from representatives of Venezuela, Honduras and Cuba, and PARLACEN deputy chairman Guillermo Ortega Reyes even shared plans to create a single parliamentary bloc with Latin American and Eurasian deputies. A similar thought came to the representative of MERCASUR from Argentina, Carlos Daniel Gledell: “It is necessary to create multilateral international organizations in order to ensure unity not only between governments, but also between peoples, because it is our peoples who give us legitimacy.”

“Every country that sent a delegation to the conference has in mind development outside of Washington’s instructions,” Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Leonid Slutsky rejoiced at the correct position of all the forum guests without exception. He also noted the benefits of parliamentary diplomacy, since it “could always go where it is difficult for official diplomacy to go,” and announced the holding of a similar inter-parliamentary conference next year. “I, as a member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, never had any doubts that we would return to Latin America,” said Leonid Kalashnikov, chairman of the Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots. “I hope that the conference will also serve economic trends, which we will accompany with parliamentary work.”

Grigory Leiba