By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer

The countries of Latin America no longer consider themselves as a backyard of the US and are determined to assert their independence on the international scene.
Gone are the days when Washington used to impose its extraterritorial will on Latin American states through installing client regimes and using the CIA to topple independent governments, in order to plunder the rich natural resources of those countries.
Today, however, the situation is entirely different and Cuba is not the only example of determined resistance against the American plots.
With more and more Latin American states electing nationalist heads of state capable of thwarting US designs, the time may come for emergence of a new bloc possessing not just the political will, but the economic, industrial, and cultural clout to keep the meddling northern Americans at bay.
Although, some Spanish speaking states of the New World still act as servants of the US, they are actually living on borrowed time, with the people determined to unseat them one day through popular vote and election of nationalist leaders, as has happened in Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
The last named country is definitely the symbol of resistance against US hegemony and plots to undermine it.
First it was the famous Hugo Chavez that humbled the successive US regimes at every turn, and now it is Nicolas Maduro, whose solid support amongst the people of Venezuela has frustrated Washington’s every sinister design.
Venezuela has had excellent relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Tehran has never spared any effort to support Caracas stand firm on its feet.
The two oil-rich countries’ ties are not limited to the hydrocarbon sector and the exchange of vital fuel to offset the illegal US sanctions on their respective peoples, as is evident by the scheduled sail in the next few days of a supertanker to Iran, carrying two million barrels of heavy crude from Venezuela.
It should be recalled that last month, Iran had sent a supertanker to Venezuela loaded with 2.1 million barrels of condensate to ease that friendly country’s fuel problems.
As Iranian Foreign Minister, Hussain Amir-Abdollahian said in Tehran on Monday during a press conference with his Venezuelan counterpart, Felix Plasencia, Iranian goods are accessible in several Venezuelan cities.
This was a reference to the huge supermarket “Megasis” in Caracas and its branches in other cities, supplying a variety of Iranian products to the Venezuelan people including tractors, plastics, detergents, clothing, foodstuffs, nuts, home appliances, carpets, construction materials and hundreds of other items.
This is indeed a sign of the healthy and constructive relations between the two countries which will be further boosted with the signing of a 20-year economic cooperation agreement during President Maduro’s scheduled visit to Tehran in the following months.
Plasencia, who also met President Hojjat al-Islam Seyyed Ibrahim Raisi, was told by Iran’s Chief Executive that the Islamic Republic is determined to expand relations in all fields with Latin American states, especially Venezuela.
To sum up, US state terrorism on the international scene, including kidnapping of officials of other countries should not be an impediment to the two countries’ growing ties that are beneficial to the politics and economy of the free world.