Every time Russia is getting closer to Latin America, a rather uncomfortable situation for the United States and for those who defend the Western model. Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela are its main allies.
(Also read: Why are Venezuela and Argentina retarding the economic growth of Latin America?
Besides the ideological, what unites them? The sanctions imposed by the Americans and the European Union, For this reason, they seek to counterbalance these measures and they do so from any front.for example from the economic one, the most important.
For this, Moscow has been trying for several years to introduce its financial system known as the MIR, to its allies. According to press reports, in Cuba it has already started operating since March.
With Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s visit to Caracas, this was one of the points to be discussed, the start-up of the MIR, which would have already started operations on Margarita Island, where the flow of Russian tourists is considerable.
Testing began in the Venezuelan capital at the end of July. In the first phase of its insertion, more than 40,000 terminals at points of sale in Venezuela will be integrated into MIR. While the final goal of the government is that 30% of the points of sale accept cards issued by Russian banks in rubles.
Now Nicaragua has also joined the concern to incorporate the MIR. Daniel Ortega’s Minister of Finance and Public Credit, Iván Acosta Montalbán, assured a few days ago that what they are looking for “as is done in Cuba and Venezuela, to neutralize and defeat US financial aggression.”
In the case of Venezuela, which was also blocked from the payment system of the Society for World Interbank Financial Telecommunication, better known as SWIFT, it would try to carry out its transactions through this channel. SWIFT is a platform that connects some 11,000 financial institutions in more than 200 countries.
How viable is the incorporation to the MIR?
For Rommer Ytriago, a specialist in international politics at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), although it is true that it worked for Russia since 2014 when it was sanctioned for annexing Crimea, “for us that would lead to more sanctions for the fact that apply an instrument of force above the others”, says Ytriago, referring to Visa and Mastercard.
“They may end up being removed from the Venezuelan operation. It seems to me that we still should not move in that direction, especially when it is expected that in the international dynamics, Venezuela has finished reconsidering in many areas”, insists the specialist.
Today the countries that use MIR cards are Vietnam, South Korea, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
For its part, Brazil would be evaluating whether to join or not, and this has to do with the progress of the Brics. However, it is a “very complex issue”, which requires “time and work” in several areas, so it cannot be decided “at once”, reported the Sputnik media.
For the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, this integration will allow fluid communication to expedite import and export transactions in bolivars and rubles.
ANA MARIA RODRIGUEZ BRAZON
WEATHER CORRESPONDENT
CARACAS
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