Report

Opening a Second Western Front Against Putin

Think tank: The Henry Jackson Society

Author(s): Peter Young

November 1, 2022

This report from UK think tank the Henry Jackson Society looks at Russia’s Latin American proxies.

The West must devise a comprehensive strategy to challenge Moscow’s hybrid warfare aggression in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, according to the latest think tank report. The paper, published today, examines the economic and political vulnerabilities of the Kremlin’s Latin American proxy states. The author of the report, Peter Young, argues that the Free World’s creation of a second front to remove Putin’s influence in Latin America would result in a necessary and significant geopolitical loss for Russia. Mr Young examines how unlike the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe’s policies regarding Russia’s Latin American proxies have failed to defend human rights and political freedoms in the region. Mr Young calls for the UK and its European allies to pressurise the Cuban, Venezuelan, and Nicaraguan regimes against Russia, which has long abused its proxies. He concludes the report with a series of recommendations: The Cuban government should eliminate slave labour revenues and aid to official Cuban institutions. The Cuban government should sanction oligarchs and enterprises that violate human rights. The Venezuelan government should sanction its oil sector to reduce its output and ultimate support of the Venezuelan regime. The US, UK, and Europe’s multilateral institutions should work to ensure that the Nicaraguan regime is deprived of its key financial resources from global organisations such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.