TOlatin america has become a kind of 'Fight Club'. It is not that the historical relations between the countries have been a haven of peace, but what has happened in recent months, with multiple fronts of serious disagreements, has turned the region into a racket where presidents launch insults, disqualifications and insults to their peers, while the chancelleries, usual filters of these animosities, are disavowed; It is a disturbing diagnosis about the level of democracies and the deinstitutionalization of ties between neighbors.
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The breaking of diplomatic relations by Mexicoand his claim before the International Court of Justice for having broken the principle of inviolability of diplomatic legations, was the path taken by this dispute in which, in addition, the suspension of the aggressor country from the UN and, if a breach of the founding charter is proven, their expulsion. To which were added sentences against Quito in the OAS and in the Celac.
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We are seeing that as there are democratic declines in the hemisphere, this goes hand in hand with very personalistic leadership at the level of the highest authorities.
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“We are seeing that as there are democratic declines in the hemisphere, this goes hand in hand with very personalistic leaderships at the level of the highest authorities who no longer take the microphone for themselves for mutual insults, which are quite regrettable in the diplomatic sphere, but rather “They go further and carry out actions that are very counterproductive and contrary to the democratic principles that should govern relations throughout the region,” he explains to EL TIEMPO. Carolina Jimenez, president of Wola (Washington office for Latin American Affairs, for its acronym in English). “It seems that a more realistic-pragmatic policy based on interest prevails, although that leads to confrontational processes.”
This is what the former Colombian foreign minister Julio Londono has been called “microphone diplomacy”, an image that can be extrapolated to social networks: “Relations between States cannot be managed through microphones. It is absolutely fatal and absurd to customize them. These cannot be managed according to the sympathies or antipathies that one head of state has towards another, because the relationship between two nations is at stake” and their citizens, he told EL TIEMPO in March.
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It is the diplomacy of the microphone that has caused Milei to refer to Petro as a “murderer” every chance he can because of his guerrilla past, which caused, in an unusual moment of tension, the announcement of the expulsion of the Argentine diplomatic and consular corps in Colombia. although the foreign ministries of the two countries already put out the fire; or the social networks that the Colombian has used to attack the Salvadoran prison system, which has brought so much local and international credit to President Nayib Bukele.
Institutions without authority
Analyst Muni Jensen, partner at Dentons Global Advisors, sees two elements that in her opinion partly explain the animosity that is sweeping the continent. “The first is that international bodies have been weakened and lack consensus and authority to mediate or avoid disputes. The second, the erosion of democratic principles on the continent: corruption, clientelism, and ignorance of the rule of law, drug trafficking and crime in general have undermined institutions. Without strong structures at the national level and with weakened organizations at the international level, the ground is fertile for conflict between countries.”
Relations between States cannot be managed through microphones. It is absolutely fatal and absurd to customize them
For this and many other reasons, several of these frictions can only be understood from the perspective of the fruits that leaders can reap in the context of their internal audiences or in the smoke screens that are raised to distract local crises. In that, Chavismo and before Castro in Cuba They have taught for decades with their indiscriminate use of the 'external enemy' to stir up nationalism and beat down the opposition.
Another key element to understand this continental 'fight club' is the ideological disputes that lately influence more the course of relations between countries. The case of the dismissal of the now former Peruvian president Pedro Castillo marked a path of disagreements between Amlo-Petro, both on the left, with the replacement Dina Boluarte, to the point that at the time a handbrake was put on one of the most promising commercial integration projects in the region: the Pacific Alliance. The left combo Petro-Amlosometimes the Brazilian Lula and less and less the Chilean Gabriel Boric It has become transversal to all discussions in the region, with an unbuttoned and 'libertarian' Milei trying to counterbalance it.
The war of microphones and insults that we see denotes that the loss of diplomatic language and the high level of political discussion is becoming normalized (…)
In the case of the left-right struggle, what happens between Chile and Venezuela, both progressive, breaks the parallel. The Boric government called its ambassador for consultations over the Venezuelan Foreign Minister's statements that the band 'Tren de Aragua' “does not exist” and is a “media invention,” words that Chileans considered an “insult.” ”.
Things got complicated when the Chilean Prosecutor's Office concluded that the murder of the Venezuelan opposition soldier Ronald Ojeda –who had been living as a refugee in Chile since 2018–, which is attributed to the 'Aragua Train', could have had political motives and was orchestrated from Venezuela. A state crime in which said criminal gang was instrumentalized? That is the suspicion that, if confirmed, could lead to a breakup.
The “put your opinions wherever they fit” from the president of the Venezuelan legislature Jorge Rodríguez to Lula, Petro and the former Uruguayan president José Mujica, all from the select group of the continental left, is already legendary when they expressed their concern about the obstacles in registration of opposition candidates.
Seeing this type of confrontation makes us think that we are going to be very far from finding regional solutions to problems that need to be discussed, debated and also agreed upon.
And the citizens?
“Seeing this type of confrontation makes us think that we are going to be very far from finding regional solutions to problems that need to be discussed, debated and also agreed upon,” says Jiménez. That is to say, if Ecuador is facing a greater challenge due to drug trafficking violence, and the Mexican cartels are key in that mechanism, how is it going to ask for the cooperation of the Government of that country if relations were broken? Or, as an Ecuadorian migrant asked himself through tears on the way to the US border: “If my country broke up with Mexico, are they not going to let me arrive?”
Although diplomacy manages to calm tempers and avoid escalations, it is also being the victim of a harmful phenomenon, in Jensen's opinion: “Improvisation in governments that do not value diplomacy enough and use chancelleries and embassies to pay favors to inexperienced officials.” and without understanding the parameters of treatment between countries. Added to this is that international entities have become politicized into ideological blocs that invalidate their positions.”
A dark panorama that threatens integration and that polarizes and closes spaces for cooperation in a transnational scenario that is too hostile.
EDUARD SOTO – DEPUTY EDITOR – EL TIEMPO
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