The Russian group of Wagner mercenaries is everywhere today. A good part of Russia's operations in the invasion of Ukraine bear his mark. And it grows in Africa. Now, in addition, Latin America appears in the rear-view mirror.
“Wagner has also been seen in Latin America, for example, with ex-soldiers from Peru and other countries who have left private security to join him, until now to go abroad. That is why their threat to global security, which is strengthened by war and is growing," Carlos Salazar Couto, a member of the United Nations High Commissioner's working group on mercenaries, launched in conversation with La Vanguardia. for Human Rights.
The paramilitary arm of the group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin is believed to number "up to 50,000" members, according to British and US security agencies. It was known to recruit members even from inmates (with all sorts of sentences) in Russia. Latin America is now pointed out as another and very complex source. It implies doing it already in western territory.
Having details of how, how many, where, however, is difficult. "Because everything is based on a nebula" she argues. Because Wagner is not even recognized in Russia "although he now has a huge store in Saint Petersburg," explains Salazar Couto. Because unlike Blackwater (today Academi), for example, which played a prominent role in Iraq, legal, supervised and no longer operates outside the US –for the record, Salazar Couto cites–, Wagner is not legal , plays illegally, and thus it becomes difficult to control it. “He was seen in Haiti with the Colombians who participated in the murder of Jovenel Moise. There is a margin of illegality, ”he continues.
On the other hand, there is evidence of its presence in the past in Venezuela, as summarized by the Parisian consulting firm Cassini, specialized in geopolitical and cartographic analysis and research. Its objective: to support President Nicolás Maduro. First in 2018. Then in 2019.
Also mainly cybernetic activities, aimed at destabilization, in Mexico, all of them located in 2020, although with an eye on the US.
According to this consultancy, both actions in America would represent only 9% of all those accounted for and attributed to the Prigozhin galaxy. In Latin America 1%. For this reason, the qualitative leap that now means talking about recruiting here, in Latin America, also mercenaries.
“The key to Latin America is that they can access trained people. Colombians, Peruvians, and Mexicans, as already mentioned, have joined because of and with their experience in combat with armed groups from their countries, such as the Shining Path, drug traffickers, etc. I know one who left. And the ease of attracting them is also because there is a lot of unemployment...", specifies this Peruvian specialist with decades of experience in dialogue and conflict resolution processes.
Your case does not seem exceptional. It is detailed as follows: "He went to Africa and told me: 'When I came back I was able to buy a house.' They charge, we believe, about 1,500 dollars or 2,500, 3,000, if they are experienced. You start with a very basic salary but you grow quickly when you go through the war, etc. ”.
“This year we are making a report on recruitment and the problem is that private companies are a bridge to other groups” corroborates Salazar Couto for all this, but not before pointing out: “Cybernetic action in Latin America is possible. But before the paramilitaries there are more consolidated states and their presence is difficult. Also because we are part of the US strategy.”
His main destination, according to the Peruvian specialist, would be Africa. Another thing is that, as Federica Saini Fasanotti, a researcher at the Brookings Institution in Washington and the Institute for International Political Studies in Milan, a specialist in asymmetric warfare and counterinsurgency, details for this newspaper, "what is certain is that the Movements seen in Africa and Ukraine have the power to indirectly affect European stability in areas such as migration and control of strategic African areas”.
In fact, following Cassini again, of the total actions of the Prigozhin galaxy, 19% are in Africa, mostly in sub-Saharan countries with relevant resources, and Libya, a key country for migration to Italy, for example. . Meanwhile, in the Far East there is no record of his actions.
Salazar Couto thus concludes: "Wagner is a particular, exceptional case, strengthened by the war in Ukraine and a model, which we call mercenaryism, which is becoming a trend, as in the case of dictators who mount their private army on all in Africa. That is why the concern is growing. And hence the international convention against mercenaries, which has not been signed by the big countries. It refers to private military and security companies, and there is a dispute about its conception, ”he continues.
Russia has not. Neither the US nor the UK. Nor France. Not Spain. Yes Italy or Germany. Or Ukraine. And the same Honduras, Costa Rica, Cuba, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador or Uruguay in Latin America. It is from 1989. But the content is becoming more current. Also here, in the West.
