Russia builds ties in United States’ backyard
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Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is to visit Venezuela, where President Hugo Chavez has been cultivating stronger military and economic relations with Moscow. Stops in Brazil and Cuba are also planned, reports Chris Kraul from Bogota.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev plans to travel this month to Venezuela, Brazil and Cuba to strengthen regional ties, a tour that underscores a foreign policy challenge close to home that awaits the Obama administration. Medvedev’s visit to Venezuela comes as Russia and the Latin American nation strengthen their economic and military relationship. In July, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a strident critic of President Bush, told reporters in Moscow that he might spend as much as $30 billion buying Russian arms through 2012. For Chavez, closer ties with Russia serve as a warning to the United States ‘to be careful about what you do with me,’ said Ricardo Sucre, a political science professor and analyst at the University of Central Venezuela in Caracas.
Last week, John Kiriakou, who served as a CIA counter-terrorism official from 1998 to 2004, wrote in Los Angeles Times Opinion that he thinks Iran is making major diplomatic inroads into Latin America, right under Washington’s nose.
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-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City