In Mexico, Russian media and diplomatic efforts swell

MEXICO CITY — Russian messaging and media is on the rise in Mexico, where federal elections will be held in June and Mexico’s proximity to the United States makes it a valuable intelligence target.

Russia’s diplomatic presence in Mexico is also disproportionately large compared to Mexico’s representation in Moscow, a disparity that has raised concerns about the Kremlin’s potential espionage and cyber operations in North America.

According to official data from Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there are currently 72 Russian diplomats accredited to the Russian embassy in Mexico City, 46 to the US embassy, ​​38 to the Chinese embassy and one in Moscow. The Mexican embassy has only 10 accredited diplomats. .

“The Russian embassy in Mexico is very active, much more active than before, and sometimes surprising, to say the least, because it is critical of some positions, and to some extent This is because it takes [political] Both sides are intervening,” said Martha Bárcena, who served as Mexico’s ambassador to the United States from 2018 to 2021.

“I don’t think that the master plan is the fault of the Russian embassy or Russian intelligence. I simply think that this is in the traditional anti-American framework of some people in Mexico,” Bárcena said. added.

Although Russia’s presence in Mexico is now more pronounced than in previous years, key sectors of Mexico’s civil society and political institutions have historically sought closer ties with the Soviet Union and now with Russia. .

“The Mexican Communist Party has had a strong base since 1919, with 5 percent of the electorate, and that 5 percent has grown as that base has aligned with larger groups,” said Roberta, a fellow at the Wilson Center. – Raju said. Mexican Institute and former diplomat where from 2002 until 2005 he served as ambassador representing Mexico to four countries, including Cuba.

Its early communist base, always characterized by strong anti-American attitudes, survived through various political eras, eventually settling as part of the coalition supporting Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador.

Despite Russia’s complete abandonment of communism, the communist base has largely maintained its affinity for Russia.

Mr. López Obrador’s coalition is wide-ranging, ranging from the remnants of his base to Mexico’s right-wing Green Party and now officially affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), a hegemonic party of the late 20th century. of the opposition coalition.

López Obrador, a former member of the PRI, has maintained a neutral stance on geopolitical issues in general and those involving Russia in particular. He has refused to take sides in the invasion of Ukraine and has yet to condemn the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

“Geopolitically, what the Russians want with Mexico is to drive a wedge between Mexico and the United States, which is their main trading partner, friend and ally,” said the Washington-based official. said Doria Estevez, a Mexican journalist. First reported on Russia’s growing diplomatic influence In Mexico.

“This strategy is not for Latin American governments like Mexico, which is beyond three dictatorships.” [Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela]to support war or invasion [of Ukraine],No such thing [the Russians] They want to remain neutral because neutrality benefits Russia. That’s the goal. They don’t want López Obrador to support Russia or attack the United States or NATO, for example. ”

But Russia’s investments in the country are not only visible to those who study the Foreign Ministry’s diplomatic record, but also ubiquitous to Mexicans who use public transportation.

Russian media network RT (banned in Europe and generally condemned as propaganda in the West) advertises on billboards throughout Mexico City, where around 1 billion private rides take place each year. It is also shown on screens in the subway system.

“In the face of closures in Europe, the US, Canada and channels like Russia Today (currently RT-only), where transmission is prohibited, Sputnik and others are strengthening their presence in countries where transmission is not prohibited. “That’s Latin, ‘America in general,'” Bárcena said.

In a January interview with Nacho “El Chapcero” Rodriguez, an online influencer who supports López Obrador, Russian ambassador Nikolai Sofinsky said he “received the RT.” Since we started advertising, our audience has increased significantly. ”

Appealing directly to Mexican consumers is a new approach for Russia, which, like other world powers, has maintained a presence in Mexico City for decades.

“Mexico, like Vienna and Istanbul, is a city that has always had a lot of intelligence exchanges with a lot of intelligence agencies,” Bárcena said.

“There are a lot of secret agents from different countries. And obviously for Russia it’s very attractive because it’s so close to the United States. Right now their access to the United States is very limited by sanctions. Therefore, following the U.S. situation from Mexico may be easier than following the U.S. situation from other regions.

Still, during the long period of the Cold War, Russia outsourced much of its intelligence operations in Latin America to Cuba.

According to Raju, after the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, the promotion of communism in Latin America was largely left to Cuba and its guerrilla model.

“The Communist Party has subordinated itself to a guerrilla strategy, and the Soviet Union has largely externalized its relations with Latin America to Cuba,” she said.

Mexico’s political system, under the PRI, a broad ideological umbrella that includes a fervently anti-communist wing of the internal security apparatus, embraced some left-leaning rhetoric to forge a deal with Cuba.

“It was really a rhetorical left to appease the communists. It was the left that defended the Cuban revolution, and they defended the Cuban revolution in the OAS, but there was a limit and they said, ‘Okay, I’m not going to support your government. There was an agreement: ‘You recognize that, but you do not sponsor guerrillas in Mexico,”’ Raju said. .

On the other hand, the PRI, although ostensibly neutral, was globally anti-communist and sided with the United States when it mattered.

“Mexico essentially supported the United States during the Cold War in exchange for U.S. support for Mexico’s industrialization. This is especially important because the postwar American project in the Americas was free trade,” Raju said. Ta.

its ambiguity Prista This attitude dominated López Obrador’s public rhetoric throughout his career and into his early days as president.

“López Obrador is like Prista Until recently, he invited the Cuban president to give an Independence Day speech and paraded Russian troops in Mexico City’s main square during the invasion of Ukraine. There was a fundamental qualitative change for me,” Raju said.

López Obrador said this week that an electoral tribunal ordered him to remove from certain social networks an interview with former RT reporter Inna Afinogenova, who published the interview on Spanish social media channel Canal Red. This caused an outcry and controversy.

Canal Red is run by Pablo Iglesias, a Spanish politician seeking a diplomatic end to the war in Ukraine.

López Obrador will remove the video from YouTube and Facebook after a court ruled it promotes former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, who is running for president under López Obrador’s political umbrella. I was ordered to do so.

“They gave it to me. [Afinogenova] 2 hours or more for the interview. Perfect softball.If you think it’s Tucker Carlson [Vladimir Putin] The interview was softball, but this one was even worse,” Estevez said.

López Obrador’s first interview came on the same day that Navalny’s death in prison was announced by the Kremlin.

López Obrador’s increasingly brazen flirtation with geopolitical fires shows that the party’s populist, anti-Yankee base has some influence over the president.

“Populism, which is derived from the Mexican left, has always played the card of being pro-communist, pro-Cuban, pro-Soviet, because they are very anti-Yankee, thoroughly anti-Yankee, and hate the United States. “Because we have a lot of people,” Estevez said.

According to Bárcena, the growth of its ideological wing should attract the attention of the United States.

“I think the United States should be concerned. For Mexico, I don’t think there is a destabilizing objective on the Russian side. Perhaps what they want to make sure is that Mexico continues its position of neutrality regarding the Ukraine war and that it actually is in Russia’s favor,” Bárcena said.