Not one Latin American nation is on Putin’s list of ‘unfriendly countries.’ Isn’t that sad? | Opinion

When Russia put out a long list of “unfriendly countries,” singling out those that have punished it for invading Ukraine, the regime didn’t include any Latin American states. Latin American countries should be ashamed.

The list, released on March 7, mentioned the United States, the 27 countries of the European Union, Britain, Japan, Canada, Norway, Singapore, South Korea and Switzerland.

I can’t help but wonder whether Latin America’s response to the invasion of Ukraine was so weak that Russia’s autocrat Vladimir Putin considers countries in the region to still be friendly.

To be fair, most Latin American countries joined the overwhelming 141 majority vote that condemned Russia’s invasion at a United Nations General Assembly on March 1. Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, El Salvador and Nicaragua abstained, and Venezuela didn’t vote.

But the leaders of Brazil, Mexico, Argentina have made wishy-washy statements that seem to contradict their countries’ votes at the United Nations.

Worse, virtually all Latin American countries have bucked the democratic world’s massive offensive to impose sanctions on Russia for the worst aggression against a sovereign and democratic European state in recent memory.

While the United States, the European Union — and even formerly neutral countries Switzerland and Sweden — not only are imposing economic sanctions, but also sending arms to Ukraine, most Latin American presidents are not even willing to impose symbolic sanctions against the Putin regime.

Most, like Mexico, have invoked their countries’ laws that supposedly prohibit them from imposing unilateral sanctions on other countries without a U.N. mandate. But in virtually all cases, that’s a misleading argument.

Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador claims that Mexico is a “pacifist” country and will not impose sanctions on any other. Mexican officials say that their country has never imposed unilateral sanctions against any country without a U.N. resolution.

But that’s not true.

In World War II, Mexico sent one of its elite air force squadrons to fight alongside U.S. and allied forces in the Philippines. In 1968, Mexico unilaterally banned apartheid South Africa from the Mexico City Olympics. In 1975, Mexico denied visas to South African tennis players who were headed to Mexico for a Davis Cup match.

“Mexico has imposed unilateral sanctions at other times in the past, based on U.N. General Assembly resolutions,” says Jorge Lomónaco, a former Mexican ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva and to the Organization of American States. “It could perfectly well do the same now, based on the March 1 U.N. General Assembly resolution.”

It would be unrealistic to demand at this time that Mexico or any other Latin American country send troops or weapons to Ukraine. And, considering Latin America’s post-pandemic economic crisis, countries in the region could be excused for not imposing economic sanctions, even when Russia is a relatively minor trading partner for most of them. In Mexico’s case, it’s the country’s 36th export market.

But, at a defining moment in world history, when the future of national sovereignty, democracy and fundamental rights is at stake like never before since World War II, Latin American countries should at least take symbolic steps to make it perfectly clear to Russia whose side they’re on.

Symbolic sanctions are no minor issue. Most Russians, who are fed only Putin’s propaganda through state-controlled media, still believe that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a “defensive” military operation against a foreign threat. And Putin’s list of “unfriendly” nations leads Russians to believe that most of the world — China and India, and Latin America and African countries — are on Putin’s side.

Latin American leaders should send humanitarian aid to Ukrainian refugees with urgency and suspend all sports events with Russia, following the lead of FIFA World Soccer Federation, the International Tennis Federation and other major sports organizations, which have already done this.

And they should vote at the Organization of American States, as a region, to stop all cultural-exchange agreements with Russia.

They should announce all of these measures, loud and clear, to send a strong message to the Russian people that Putin has committed an atrocity. It’s time for Latin America to actively side with the world’s biggest democracies — and proudly take their place on Putin’s list of “unfriendly” nations.

Don’t miss the “Oppenheimer Presenta” TV show on Sundays at 7 pm E.T. on CNN en Español. Twitter: @oppenheimera; Blog: www.andresoppenheimer.com