Grundberger: 'Havana is a kind of socialist Vatican whose dogmas are not questioned'

There are political groups that undercut democracy in Latin America, groups that do not distinguish between the democratic and totalitarian left, groups that have been nurtured by the regimes in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, validating them. These include the São Paulo Forum, Progressive International, the Puebla Group and the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO). Those groups are portrayed in the book The Pink Galaxy. How the São Paulo Forum, the Puebla Group and Their International Allies Undermine democracy in Latin America. Sebastián Grundberger/X We talked to the author. 

"I think the damage is considerable," said Grundberger on the phone from Montevideo in his conversation with DIARIO DE CUBA, referring to the influence of these groups on politics in the region. "In the last 20 years we have seen a decline in democracy in Latin America, with all the polls showing it. During this time the vast majority of governments have been leftist, and I think one can deduce that there is a relationship between the two. There's not always a very clear separation between democratic vs authoritarian and dictatorial spaces of the Left, and that is my thesis in the book."

These groups are like big sacks in which potential germs mix with some very rotten fruit. "Legitimate people and organizations are associated democratically with dictatorships, such as the Communist Party of Cuba. The first time that happened was when the São Paulo Forum was founded, where Lula da Silva and Fidel Castro came together to create to this alliance. What I argue is that these unions, these planets of the pink galaxy, in the end serve to enable autocracies and are support platforms for dictatorships," Grundberger asserted.

He also said that "Cuba's role is absolutely key; it is, perhaps, one of the most important actors, or the most important of all. This is demonstrated by several things; for example, Havana is being used by different planets in the Pink Galaxy as a kind of meeting place. A few days ago a meeting of Progressive International ended there, in which, incidentally, very important figures from the Puebla Group also participated, such as former Colombian President Ernesto Samper. One realizes that in none of these spaces in the Pink Galaxy does anyone dare criticize Cuba in the slightest. This is why I say that Havana is a kind of socialist Vatican whose dogmas are not questioned."

Grundberger also argues that these organizations are part of a carnivorous left, as defined by Álvaro Vargas Llosa, that "portray themselves as progressive, somehow managing to give people the impression that they are democratic or progressive, when, basically, what they really do is follow the same path as the more authoritarian and hard left, with anti-colonialist anti-neoliberal and anti-imperialist rhetoric, but only criticizing the United States, never China or Russia. I think that the moderate left, unfortunately, has a very difficult time making inroads into these lines."

The author pointed out that his goal in his book is to address "all those who identify with the democratic left and who empathize in some way with the Puebla Group and the São Paulo Forum." He went on: "I encourage people to simply visit the websites of these organizations and read the statements their meetings produce, and to reflect on whether they wish to continue identifying with their absurd defense of the Cuban dictatorship, their lack of absolute criticism of the regime in Caracas, their failure to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and many other elements that are not indicative of a democratic organization."

Grundberger insisted that "they engage in a completely selective interpretation of democracy and human rights. They cite them to attack dissidents they wish to discredit, but they do not care when their friends or allies fail to respect them. This is what I try to show in the book; that, for them, democracy is not an end in itself, human rights are not an end, as such; they are not an inherent value. Rather, they are a means to an end. The goal is to gain and amass power or, as the São Paulo Forum says in one of its statements, to achieve a 'socialist society,' and that is precisely where I see the danger of these institutions."

These organizations are characterized by their double standards. "For example, one thing that strikes me is that at one of its recent meetings the São Paulo Forum adopted two resolutions, one of them on El Salvador, strongly criticizing Nayib Bukele. On the one hand they decry the silencing of dissidents, opposition media and civil society in El Salvador, which is happening. Then they turn around and express total and strict solidarity with the dictatorship in Cuba, where all the same kinds of things they condemn in El Salvador are also occurring," he said.

The rhetoric of these organizations is completely selective and Grundberger believes that "it is important that we, as democrats, believing in human rights, regardless of whether we are center-right, center-left, liberal, progressive, or whatever, stand united against the adversaries of democracy, instead of supporting violators of human rights when they are 'on our political side.'"

In addition, these groups are exploited by Russia, China and Iran as mechanisms of political, ideological and economic influence in Latin America. "Having these types of allies, and strengthening them more and more, behooves these regimes, but I think that Latin America is so essential that it's hard to say what will happen in the coming years. Although, I think that these groups in the Pink Galaxy are strong right now, and the way to oppose them, offering a democratic counterpoint, is to observe them and reveal what they do," underscored Grundberger.

He concluded that, rather than advancing a grand thesis, what this book is about is "drawing a picture of all these actors, how they are intertwined, who they are and how they work, drawing the conclusion that they act in a very coordinated way, based on a common ideology, so it is valid to look at them as a coordinated entity, and it this which I call the Pink Galaxy." 

You can access a PDF of the book here