Russia is operating extensive influence and misinformation networks across 13 Latin American nations to exploit anti-U.S. and anti-Europe resentment in favor of Moscow, a new study by the Brazilian independent news agency Agência Lupa revealed this week.
The study, titled, “Russian Influence Operations in Latin America,” contains a compilation of dozens of incidents of Russian disinformation, espionage, and influence operations documented over the past across Latin America. The report was made public on Thursday in both Portuguese and Spanish by Agência Lupa in collaboration with the journalist network LatamChequea and the European Commission’s Foreign Policy Instruments.
The study alleges that Russia built a “sophisticated influence ecosystem” in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela with the goal of “combining ideological propaganda, disinformation, diplomacy, covert digital campaigns, political and economic agreements, state media channels, nationalist networks, and even documented cases of espionage.”
Agência Lupa described the report as “the most comprehensive report ever produced in Brazil” on Russian interference and manipulation. The study lists the Spanish-language divisions of the Russian state outlets RT and Sputnik at the “tip of an iceberg” that extends towards cover coordinated operations of propaganda and political influence — including espionage and “military cooperation.”
Russian state outlets are described as filling spaces once occupied by traditional news organizations in the region but using more “aggressive distribution methods” and “emotionally charged language.” Moscow’s propaganda strategies, the study pointed out, have “rapidly adapted” across Latin America since 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine.
Per the study, Moscow disseminates “tailored” narratives in Latin America exploiting political, social, and the region’s economic vulnerabilities and not just pro-Kremlin disinformation. Some of the pursuits include stoking anti-American sentiment over United States’ historical influence in the region, promoting anti-colonial rhetoric. To achieve such goals, the study noted, Russia “latches” and exploits local political disputes, distrust towards Western institutions, and “local anti-U.S. sensitivities.”
The narratives also advocate for multilateralism led by countries of the “Global South,” glorifying the anti-U.S. BRICS bloc, and criticizing the use of the U.S. dollar while also criticizing Western institutions such as NATO and the European Union. According to the study, Russia’s propaganda efforts also included RT’s direct training of Spanish-speaking journalists in Caracas in the past.
The goal, the study emphasized, is to position Russia as a “multipolar counterweight and legitimize its foreign policy, including the war in Ukraine” in Latin American political discourse.
“The discussion on disinformation tends to focus heavily on the internal dynamics of each country, but the current landscape shows that there are transnational influence operations acting in an organized, professional manner that is tailored to local contexts,” Brazilian researcher Beatriz Farrugia, one of the study’s authors, said. “The report demonstrates how Russia has, over the years, been building a consistent strategy to expand its narrative and political presence in Latin America.”
In some countries, such as Venezuela, the study found that Russia employs the left-wing propaganda network Telesur as a “media lackey” for the spreading of its anti-U.S. and anti-Western narratives — with said practices continuing even after the arrest of socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces on January 3, 2026.
Telesur is a notoriously anti-U.S. propaganda network established by the Venezuelan socialist regime in the early 2000s during the rule of late dictator Hugo Chávez. The network is largely funded by the Venezuelan regime in addition to the Cuban and Nicaraguan communist regimes. The study noted that Telesur also amplifies pro-China narratives in the region alongside pro-Russian messaging.
The study also documented an extensive number of reports of pro-Russian espionage in the region. Some of the known cases detailed in the study include an Argentine married couple detained in Slovenia in 2022 and sentenced in 2024 for acting as spies for Russia; Russian operatives arrested in 2025 after they were found posting as Brazilians working towards setting up a “spy factory” in Brazil; and a Russian spy base believed to exist in Nicaragua under the guise of an Russia-Nicaragua Anti-Narcotics Training Center in Managua.
“This study helps demonstrate that foreign interference is neither an abstract concept nor something distant from the reality of Latin America. We are talking about concrete, documented campaigns tailored to local political dynamics. The first step in countering this type of operation is to understand how it works,” Farrugia stressed.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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