Russia Running Disinfo Networks in 13 Latin American Nations
A new investigation reveals Russia has built an extensive influence network across 13 Latin American countries using disinformation, espionage, and state media to weaponize anti-American sentiment.
The comprehensive study, released this week by Brazilian independent news agency Agência Lupa in partnership with the journalist network LatamChequea and the European Commission’s Foreign Policy Instruments, documents dozens of incidents of Russian disinformation campaigns, espionage activities, and political influence operations throughout the region, according to Breitbart News.
Titled “Russian Influence Operations in Latin America,” the report was published Thursday in both Portuguese and Spanish. Researchers described it as the most extensive examination of Russian interference and manipulation ever compiled in Brazil.
Sophisticated Influence Networks Target Regional Vulnerabilities
The investigation reveals that Russia has constructed what analysts call a sophisticated influence ecosystem across Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela. This network combines ideological propaganda, diplomatic maneuvering, covert digital campaigns, political and economic agreements, state-controlled media channels, nationalist networks, and documented espionage operations.
At the center of this apparatus sit the Spanish-language operations of Russian state media outlets RT and Sputnik. These platforms represent merely the visible portion of a much deeper infrastructure that extends into coordinated propaganda campaigns, political influence operations, espionage activities, and military cooperation agreements, as Breitbart News reports.
Russian state-funded outlets have moved aggressively to fill voids left by traditional news organizations in Latin America, employing more aggressive distribution tactics and emotionally charged messaging. Moscow’s propaganda strategies have rapidly evolved across the region since 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Tailored Narratives Exploit Historical Grievances
The study documents how Moscow disseminates carefully tailored narratives designed to exploit political, social, and economic vulnerabilities throughout Latin America. These campaigns extend beyond simple pro-Kremlin messaging to include stoking anti-American resentment by highlighting historical United States influence in the region and promoting anti-colonial rhetoric.
Russia achieves these objectives by latching onto local political disputes, exploiting distrust toward Western institutions, and amplifying local anti-American sensitivities, the research shows.
The propaganda narratives actively promote multilateralism led by so-called Global South nations, glorify the anti-American BRICS bloc, criticize use of the U.S. dollar, and attack Western institutions including NATO and the European Union. Past Russian influence efforts have included RT directly training Spanish-speaking journalists in Caracas.
The overarching goal is positioning Russia as a multipolar counterweight to Western power and legitimizing Russian foreign policy, including the Ukraine invasion, within Latin American political discourse.
Beatriz Farrugia, a Brazilian researcher and one of the study’s authors, noted that disinformation discussions typically focus on internal national dynamics, but the current landscape reveals transnational influence operations acting in organized, professional ways adapted to local contexts. The report demonstrates how Russia has spent years building a consistent strategy to expand its narrative and political presence throughout Latin America, she stated.
Venezuela Serves as Key Propaganda Hub
In certain countries, particularly Venezuela, the investigation found Russia employs the left-wing propaganda network Telesur as a media vehicle for spreading anti-American and anti-Western narratives. These practices continued even following the arrest of socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro by United States forces on January 3, 2026.
Telesur operates as a notoriously anti-American propaganda network established by the Venezuelan socialist regime during the early 2000s under late dictator Hugo Chávez. The network receives primary funding from the Venezuelan regime along with the Cuban and Nicaraguan communist governments. Researchers noted that Telesur simultaneously amplifies pro-China narratives alongside pro-Russian messaging throughout the region.
Extensive Espionage Network Documented
The study compiled extensive documentation of pro-Russian espionage activities across Latin America. Notable cases include an Argentine married couple detained in Slovenia in 2022 and sentenced in 2024 for acting as Russian spies, Russian operatives arrested in 2025 after posing as Brazilians while attempting to establish a spy factory in Brazil, and a suspected Russian spy base operating in Nicaragua under the cover of a Russia-Nicaragua Anti-Narcotics Training Center in Managua.
The investigation demonstrates that foreign interference represents neither an abstract concept nor something distant from Latin American reality, but rather concrete, documented campaigns specifically tailored to local political dynamics across the Western Hemisphere.
With information from Breitbart News
