Iranian Foreign Policy interests in Latin America

06/29/12
Latin America and the Caribbean

President Ahmadinejad's visit to Latin America last week to attend the Rio+20 Summit in Brazil and solidify relationships in the region was a chance to see Iranian foreign policy in action as it evolves with the changing governments of Latin America. During his visit, President Ahmadinejad made stops in Bolivia, Brazil and Venezuela. In his 2011 Worldwide Threat Assessment (PDF), Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, referred to Iran's increasing relations with Latin America. According to Clapper,

Iran continues to reach out to Latin America as a way to diminish its international isolation and bypass international sanctions. So far, Iranian relations with Latin America have only developed significantly with leftists governments that oppose U.S. leadership in the world, particularly Venezuela, Bolivia, and other ALBA members, as well as with Brazil.

 

The U.S. State Department, meanwhile, reacted to the recent trip by saying that Ahmadinejad was "looking for friends in wrong places."

Below are highlights from President Ahmadinejad's trip to Bolivia, Brazil and Venezuela.

Bolivia

  • The relationship between Bolivia and Iran has been increasingly friendly over the past few years. In 2007, trade and energy agreements were signed between the two countries and then extended in 2010. Bolivian President Evo Morales was also publicly reported praising Iranian investment by FARS news agency in 2007 and stated that his country "relies very much on Iran's aids."
  • On this trip, Ahmadinejad was keen to highlight the similarities between the two countries. According to Ahmadinejad, both Iran and Bolivia have a colonial past and will progress by "work[ing] together against greedy governments, and states that want to stop others from developing, and from exercising freedom." President Morales responded, stating that "There is a permanent aggression against you, your government and the Iranian people, but I want to tell you that you are not alone because we are with you in your fight against imperialism."
  • An agreement was reached between Ahmadinejad and Bolivian President Evo Morales for the Iranian military to train ten counternarcotics intelligence officers as per a new Memorandum of Understanding (PDF) between the two countries.
  • The trip has also renewed multiple economic and agricultural agreements between the countries, including the construction of a cement factory and housing projects, among others, according to the Argentina Independent.

Brazil

  • Under President Luiz Inicio Lula da Silva, the relationship between Iran and Brazil became cordial as Time reports, with Ahmadinejad visiting the country in 2009 and Lula returning the visit in 2010 to facilitate nuclear talks without US or EU powers, according to the BBC.
  • This relationship has changed with President Dilma Rousseff's election in Brazil, as she has distanced her country from Iran as CNN noted earlier this year. Rousseff has cited Iran's poor human rights record as a reason for her distance, which runs contrary to her priorities for her own country.
  • President Ahmadinejad was in Brazil for two days to take part in the Rio+20 Summit, though he also hoped to use the opportunity to reinvigorate ties with the Brazilian government. However, after a series of snubs by the Brazilian government, the success of the trip has been deemed a failure back at home in Iran. According to the Daily Telegraph, many Iranians are angry with the way in which President Ahmadinejad was treated and one Iranian MP criticized him "for failing to abandon the trip when he saw that he, and by extension, Iran, was being treated disrespectfully."
  • The Islamic Republic News Agency reported that, instead, Ahmadinejad's time in Brazil was "spent in meetings with Brazilian elites, a meeting with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and another meeting with the former Brazilian President Lula da Silva," as well as addressing the Rio+20 Summit.

Venezuela

  • Venezuela has probably had the closest ties with Iran of any country in the region in recent years. Since 1999, President Hugo Chavez has visited Tehran 13 times.
  • There seems to be no change in this relationship coming in the near future; Ahmadinejad's visit occurred one week after President Chavez confirmed that Venezuela was building unmanned drones with Iran's help, Reuters stated recently. Venezuelan-Iranian relations have most recently been demonstrated through reports that Iran has unrestricted access to a Venezuelan port, where Venezuelan workers are denied access. This has been reported in El Nuevo Herald, Die Welt and the Miami Herald, all citing confidential sources that allege the goal is to ultimately build a missile base, although at the moment it remains under a veil of secrecy.
  • Although the meeting does not appear to have produced any new agreements, in his opening remarks at the presidential palace in Venezuela, Ahmadinejad offered to "always stand by the Venezuelan nation and their brave president Hugo Chavez," the Tehran Times wrote. In addition, the two presidents focused their meeting on reviewing current agreements including their "mutual investment of about $5 billion in factories to make cement, satellites, food, tractors and bicycles."

This blog was written by CIP Intern Anna Moses.