Russian election influence and meddling is increasingly expanding to Latin American countries, and President Vladimir Putin "would like to have a government in Mexico that is not friendly to the United States," Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., told the Miami Herald.
"We would expect to see that in Mexico and other countries in the hemisphere," Cardin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the Herald last week.
". . . We are certainly seeing evidence of Mr. Putin’s activities in our hemisphere."
Cardin released a 206-page report from Senate Foreign Relations Committee Democrats dealing with "Putin's asymmetrical assault on democracy in Russia and Europe." All Democracies are in Russia's crosshairs.
"It's not just an attack on the election process in the United States in 2016, or a potential attack of influencing the Mexican elections," Cardin told the Herald. "It's an overall game plan to assault democratic institutions, to allow a vacuum to be created in which Mr. Putin's influence can be greater."
Many are anticipating Russian involvement in Mexico's July 1 election, which has leftist candidate Andres Manuel López Obrador leading in polls currently.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited five Latin American countries recently, warning of Russia's influence in elections, trade, the economy, and defense.
"We see some of Russia’s fingerprints around elections that have occurred in Europe," Tillerson reportedly said last Tuesday. ". . . We are seeing similar activity in this hemisphere.
"There are a number of important elections in this hemisphere this year."
Cardin's report outlined social media "troll farms" and other disinformation campaigns, including the Putin mouthpiece Russia Today (RT).
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.