In the middle of the war that Russia unleashed in Ukrainethe pollster Latinobarómetro released this Monday, March 28, a study on the image that the inhabitants of 10 countries in Latin America have about the great powers of the world.
Russia sanctioned by the Western blocis also affected in this survey, which was even measured before the Russian invasion launched on February 24 on Ukrainian soil.
The survey, at the request of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation and the magazine Nueva Sociedad/Grupo Dialogo y Paz, revealed that only 17% of people have a positive image of Russia; while his greatest ally, Chinaslightly exceeds it (19%).
“I tend to think that the negative image of Russia would have been even worse, because it did not have a positive image,” Mónica Hirst, professor of International Relations at the University of Quilmes, stated in a dialogue with La República, about the possible effect of the armed conflict.
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Instead, United States tops the list with 47% positive image, followed by Germany with 43%. “There is a recognition of the US as a benchmark, there is no doubt,” Hirst said.
“EE. UU. has a position of military-strategic leadership because that is how it is perceived by Latin American societies, It has nothing to do with the war in Ukraine, it has to do with the capacity and with the type of presence that marks the international projection of the United States,” he clarified.
The United States also leads in appreciation of military power (64%) and in combating terrorism (61%).
Amid widespread rejection, Bolivia (29%) and Mexico (28%) were the nations that best ranked Russia. Quite the opposite of Brazil (4%) and Chile (12%), which showed the lowest rates in terms of image.
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In the case of China, Mexico again and Guatemala showed the best image over the popular republic, both with 28%. On the other hand, Chile (14%) and Brazil (10%) also reflected the lowest opinion.
On the quality of democracies, Russia and China accumulated the lowest scores in the research, with a score of 5.1 and 4, respectively. It is a scale from 1 to 10, in which EE. UU. and France appear at the top (7.7), followed by Germany (7.5).
Hirst, co-author of the study along with four other colleagues, explained that “the survey seeks to know the look, the perceptions, it seeks to know the level of knowledge and how these countries are seen” in different areas.
In fact, China It is at the top of the estimate in technology (76%), just as the United States does in the economy (56%) and the European Union (EU) in social issues such as the environment (59%), human rights (58%) and the fight against poverty and inequality (52%).
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“It is a matter of identification, of information, there is a very clear assessment of China as a benchmark in economics, in technology”, Hirst pointed out. “But there is also a recognition of the EU in the environmental issue; it is a value that the environmental issue has for Latin American societies”.
Indeed, when asked “what are the global problems that most concern you?”, in Latin America, 73% of those interviewed answered that extreme poverty, 71% that climate change and 65% the violation of human rights.
The survey consisted of 1,200 interviews with people from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Uruguay and Venezuela. It was carried out between September and October 2021, shortly after The US will withdraw its troops from Afghanistanleaving the country in the hands of the Taliban.
“These are countries that have an important regional and subregional presence, which is why they are studies on the subregional perceptions of the Southern Cone, the Andean region, Mexico and Central America,” said the Brazilian expert.