By Diego López Beltrán | 2024-12-11

BUENOS AIRES -- Antisemitism features heavily in Russia's propaganda and disinformation efforts in South America, according to a recent report.

Russia's media presence in the region has seen a significant resurgence in recent decades, driven by a strategy aimed at eroding trust in democratic institutions and advancing narratives favorable to the Kremlin.

Through state-run outlets like Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik, Russia disseminates biased news and analyses in Spanish and Portuguese, promoting a negative image of the West while casting itself in a positive light.

A Digital News Association (DNA) report titled "How Russia weaponizes antisemitism in Latin America," published in mid-November, reveals that Moscow leverages antisemitic narratives through its state media and embassies across the region to further its strategic goals.

DNA researchers identified at least 137 articles published by Sputnik in Spanish that promote conspiracy theories rooted in antisemitic myths.

Russia strategically exploits cultural, economic and political tensions within Latin American democracies to sow "chaos, doubt, and unrest," the study noted.

"These kinds of stories trigger Latin American fears of neocolonial exploitation and suggest that Jews, Israel and Western democracies such as the United States and France conspire with one another to exploit Central and South America," the report concluded.

The goal is to create "mistrust against the United States and Western democracies."

"Some of these narratives are also amplified in Spanish by social media accounts such as @DaniMayakovski, which has more than 144,000 followers, and @LatinosPorPutin, which are often cited by Venezuela's backed-media Telesur and Cuba regime state media," according to the report.

These accounts are "vilifying Tel Aviv in comments about the Israel-Hamas war."

"Russia's leaders, propagandists and state media spread anti-Jewish conspiracy theories to shift blame and distort world events, especially in Western democracies," the report stated.

The report highlighted a January study by the US State Department, which noted, "For over a century, Tsarist, Soviet, and now Russian Federation authorities have used antisemitism to discredit, divide, and weaken their perceived adversaries at home and abroad."