Zakharova Unveils NATO Seeks Disruption of Ibero-America’s ‘Historically Good Relations’ with Russia

April 22, 2022 (EIRNS)—In a statement posted today to the Russian Foreign Ministry website, spokeswoman Maria Zakharova asserted that in orchestrating yesterday’s vote at the Organization of American States’ Permanent Council expelling Russia as a Permanent Observer in that body, NATO-affiliated members of the OAS, the U.S. and Canada, sought to “disrupt these countries’ historically good relations with Russia which are steeped in friendship, mutually respectful dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation.” She pointed out that the three largest Ibero-American nations, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, did not back the expulsion resolution, and were backed by five other nations, including Bolivia, El Salvador and Honduras.

The Foreign Ministry spokeswoman made a point of emphasizing that under current OAS Secretary-General, unapologetic State Department toady Luis Almagro, interaction between Russia and Ibero-American nations has been substantially reduced. In fact, she said, under Almagro the OAS “began to regain the features of the notorious U.S. Department for the Colonies, despite the Ibero-Americans’ efforts to pursue an independent policy within the OAS that would meet the interests of the states south of the Rio Grande.” No longer is the OAS recognized as a “universal regional organization for the Western hemisphere countries,” Zakharova declared. Cuba left in 1962 and has never returned; Nicaragua is in the process of withdrawing, and Venezuela’s legitimate government has been replaced by “an impostor”—Juan Guaidó—“who proclaimed himself the president of that country.”

Zakharova expressed the hope that the nations of the region “will be able to clearly see what kind of a thoughtless anti-Russia game they have been drawn into as OAS members.... We have no illusions whatsoever about U.S. and Canadian policies.” Russia doesn’t intend to hold onto the status of an OAS observer, she explained, adding that the reasons and goals of her country’s military operation in Ukraine “are known and clear to our unbiased partners who are open to dialogue. We remain confident that history will set things straight.” In the meantime, “our cooperation with our Ibero-American and Caribbean partners will continue to deepen and we are confident that this fully meets our respective states’ national interests.”