The coronavirus pandemic in the Latin America: factor of the rollback to the past or a drive for development?

Abstract

The article deals with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the political and economic situation in the countries of the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region and its development prospects. The author comes to the conclusion that the economic recession in the LAC is inevitable, the authoritarian methods of government will strengthen, nationalist sentiment will increase, integration processes will slow down and there will be a temporary pause in the development of cooperation with non-regional partners. The Latin American elites will have to reconsider the countries position in the current world system and adapt to a rapidly emerging new geopolitical reality. In the context of Russian-Latin American relations, the focus will be shifted to promoting bilateral cooperation. The moral component of the Russian “soft power” may be of increasing importance.