Eduardo Valdes, a former diplomat and member of the governing coalition Frente de Todos, who now serves as chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Chamber of Deputies in Argentina, says there is a clear line between vaccine negotiations and external factors.
“This is not the time to do ideology. Our goal is for the Western Hemisphere to get its vaccines and not look into someone else’s internal affairs,” he told CNN.
Although historically regarded as Washington’s geopolitical “backyard,” Latin America is increasingly turning to Moscow for help in dealing with the pandemic. Six countries across the region – Argentina, Bolivia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Venezuela – have approved the use of the Sputnik V vaccine. Others are considering authorization requests, all the more urgent given the global shortage of available vaccines.
The case of Colombia is an example: Bogotá’s closest ally, Bogotá, is now ready to authorize Sputnik V as well – a decision that has taken many by surprise due to the close alignment between some sectors of the governing coalition and the US Republican Party. In the past, right-wing members of Duque’s own party, Centro Democrático, have openly criticized Putin’s involvement in Latin America.
If anything, the vaccine deal could be a step towards making things smoother. “Both countries want to turn the page. It was regrettable, but we want to move on,” Sboiko said, adding: “Cooperation on the vaccines is currently the most urgent issue and will have a positive impact. [Colombia and Russia’s] bilateral relations. “
Sboiko told CNN that the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which is handling the commercialization of Sputnik V, submitted an emergency permit application to the Colombian medical agency INVIMA last week and that it is ready to deliver 100,000 doses within 14 days of purchase. liver.
“I think they had to bite the bullet and buy the vaccine, regardless of who they bought it from. And the Russians acted with great pragmatism,” Juan Carlos Ruiz, professor of foreign relations at Bogotá’s Universidad del Rosario, told CNN .
Ease of doing business
The need to obtain more vaccines is felt urgently in the region. Latin American countries are among the most affected pandemics, but large-scale vaccination efforts have not yet begun, with limited exceptions.
According to Russia, the Russian International Affairs Council, Danil Bochkov, an expert on international relations at the Russian Council on International Affairs, has played a key role in the spread of the vaccine in Latin America so far.
“It’s always easier to deal with the state than with a private company, which has to hedge potential risks for fear of huge losses. State – owned enterprises are easier to negotiate with, especially if they are pursuing political goals,” Bochkov said. told CNN.
Valdes, the Argentine legislature, says negotiations with Moscow were easier than with Pfizer, from whom the Argentine government initially planned to acquire vaccines. “When we looked at the contract, we evaluated that those with Pfizer were not complying with the legal protocols we were expecting,” Valdes said. ‘We reached out to the Russians and [Argentinian] “President Fernandez came into direct contact with Putin, and that speeded things up,” he told CNN.
In a statement to CNN, Pfizer said the company was still committed to working with the Argentine government, but declined to comment on the status of confidential negotiations.
Apart from the comfortable negotiations, two other factors favored the spread of Sputnik V across Latin America, according to analysts and legislators involved in purchasing vaccines in Argentina and Bolivia: Sputnik V is inexpensive and relatively easy to store.
Other privately manufactured vaccines, such as those manufactured by AstraZeneca and Moderna, are still arriving in large quantities in Latin America, while countries such as Brazil, Chile and Mexico have invested in Chinese vaccines.
What Russia can win
Former diplomats and analysts in Buenos Aires, Bogota and La Paz say Russian President Vladimir Putin can now take advantage of the vaccine’s distribution, possibly using it as a global business card to start new and more forgiving relationships.
Russia has made a big bet on the vaccine: Russia has rediscovered Latin America over the past few years, not for ideology, but because you question the norms and values of the liberal international order, Latin America is a region in particular sensitive to that purpose, ”said Serbin.
Both Russia and China want to improve their reputation after years of confrontation with the US and the EU, and the role of vaccine provider for the developing world is a perfect opportunity for a positive PR campaign. As Bochkov puts it: “Russia has so far mastered the Sputnik V as a diplomatic instrument.”
Commercially, the sale of millions of vaccine doses also means the turnover of millions of dollars in profits – something that is most important for the Russian economy, which has recently been hit by Western sanctions.
“The difference is that the United States is getting vaccines to vaccinate mostly American citizens. Others like Russia and China want to expand relationships where they can,” Pablo Solon, a former Bolivian ambassador to the United Nations, told CNN said.
A missed opportunity for the West?
Western powers could take advantage of the political – and even moral – advantage, says Amadeo Gandolfo, an Argentine scholar of political communication at Humboldt University in Berlin. He argues that Western countries missed an important opportunity to achieve a moral victory when they allowed enterprises to patent their vaccinations.
“I believe that it is the absolute necessity of the whole world to get the vaccine, leave it in the hands of the pharmaceutical companies and not allow a liberalization of the formula, but I think it is some sectors of Latin America pushed away, “he told CNN.
As with any other patented product, proprietary vaccines are protected by property rights and may not be reproduced by other companies or countries. While private companies such as Pfizer and AstraZeneca are struggling to meet dedicated orders, other labs cannot step in to produce the same vaccines and increase inventory.
Many Western countries have instead invested in the Covax mechanism, a framework promoted by the World Health Organization to purchase vaccines in large quantities and to ensure deliveries to developing countries that cannot buy them themselves.
But while Covax promises to vaccinate up to 20% of developing countries, saying it will prioritize four Latin American countries, including Bolivia and Colombia, for early access, it has yet to deliver a single dose.
It will cost Western governments dearly in post-pandemic geopolitics, says Solon, the Bolivian diplomat. “The world has been multipolar for some time,” he told CNN. “But within this multipolar world, Russia and China are advancing rapidly. This vaccine situation only reinforces the trend.”