The offer from the US looks appealing: if Latin American countries donate old Russian-made military kit to Ukraine, Washington will replace it with superior American weapons.
But far from taking up the US proposal, which was revealed last month by General Laura Richardson, head of the US Southern Command, Latin American leaders lined up to denounce.
“Even if they end up as scrap in Colombia, we will not hand over Russian weapons to be taken to Ukraine to prolong the war,” Gustavo Petro, the leftwing president of Colombia, responded. “We are not with both sides. We are for peace.
“Brazil has no interest in sending ammunition to be used in the war between Ukraine and Russia,” President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said. “Brazil is a peaceful country. At this time, we need to find people who want peace, a word that is now used too much.
Neighbor Argentina took a similar line. “Argentina will not cooperate with the war,” a defense ministry spokesman said. “It is not appropriate to cooperate by sending weapons to conflicts in Europe.”
Asked whether any Latin American country had taken up Washington’s offer, Jose Ruiz, a spokesman for the US Southern Command, said that “our policy is not to disclose the details of ongoing private discussions with our democratic partners, discussing the details of other defense resources. sovereign states, or speculation about support for Ukraine”.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also came away empty-handed from recent visits to Brazil, Argentina and Chile, after Lula rejected a request to resell tank ammunition to Berlin for use in Ukraine and Alberto Fernández, Argentina’s president, refused to send arms to Europe. Chilean President Gabriel Boric, whose left-wing coalition includes pro-Moscow communists, has only offered Kyiv help in clearing the mines.
Latin America’s reluctance to provide arms to Ukraine is in stark contrast to European countries such as Britain, which has been at the vanguard of supplying Kyiv with modern weapons. Last week London pledged to look into sending fighter jets to Ukraine.
On paper, the Latin American military could provide valuable weapons to Ukraine. The Chilean and Brazilian armies both use German-made Leopard tanks that Kyiv is seeking.
Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Ecuador have all bought Russian-made MiG transport helicopters and in some cases Russian surface-to-air missiles or anti-tank missiles, equipment compatible with that used by the Ukrainian military. Peru reportedly has working MiG and Sukhoi military jets.
However, Latin American left-wing presidents see the Ukraine conflict differently than America or Europe.
None of them came close to the three staunch Latin American allies – Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Most have strongly condemned Russia’s attack on Ukraine. But he disagreed with Washington and Brussels on how to end the war, saying the emphasis should be on an immediate ceasefire without preconditions, rather than providing arms.
“I don’t think sending weapons to prolong the conflict has support in Latin America,” Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s foreign minister, told the Financial Times.
“Nothing is smart because the cost will be very high for the European Union, for Russia and to some degree for others… the tendency that I see in Latin America… is to try to find or imagine what a political solution to this conflict will be.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador publicly criticized Scholz for agreeing to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine, saying Berlin had been forced against the wishes of most Germans “due to pressure from the German media”.
Christoph Heusgen, head of the Munich Security Conference, said he saw “a certain distance in some Latin American countries” in Ukraine. “They see it differently – as an extension of the East-West conflict, like Russia against the US, or Russia against Europe,” he said. “And what I’m saying is that this is not about East against West, this is about violating the UN Charter, violating the rules-based order.”
López Obrador and Petro’s criticism of western arms shipments to Ukraine was praised by the Russian embassy in their country. But diplomats and foreign policy experts point out that they are in line with Latin America’s long tradition of non-interference in other countries’ affairs.
Maria Angela Holguín, Colombia’s former foreign minister, said the conflict in Ukraine has created unwelcome memories in Latin America of the cold war between the US and the Soviet Union.
“The region is reverting to a non-aligned attitude,” he said. “These countries also feel that China and Russia can provide useful support in the future, for example if there is a distance from the United States, then they do not want a confrontation with them.”
There is also an economic imperative behind the attitude of Latin leaders. In common with other developing regions, Latin America has been hit hard by the rise in global fuel and fertilizer prices since the start of the war and wants to see the war end as soon as possible.
Celso Amorim, foreign minister in Lula’s previous administration and still an influential adviser, said Brazil’s refusal to supply arms to Ukraine was unrelated to the agricultural sector’s need for Russian fertilizer.
“This is a question of peace and how we can reach the negotiations,” he said. “Brazil has been mentioned by various countries as a possibility because of its role in Brics. Brazil does not want to withdraw itself from possible negotiations.
Polls show Latin American leaders are in line with their people on this issue.
About 73 percent of Latin Americans polled by Ipsos last year “claim that their country cannot provide financial support to Ukraine, due to the current economic crisis”, said Jean-Christophe Salles, chief executive of Latin America of pollster Ipsos.
“The two main countries, Argentina and Mexico, are particularly opposed to their support for Ukraine, the majority of which claim that Ukraine’s problems are none of their business.”