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A report from the Digital News Association (DNA), presented this Wednesday in the United States, reveals that Russia trained over 1,000 influencers and content creators from Latin America —including Cubans— to spread misinformation and pro-Kremlin propaganda.
The study documents that the training encompassed communicators from eight countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, with narratives focused on the war in Ukraine, anti-imperialist sentiments, and conspiracy theories tailored to the local ideology of each nation, reported EFE.
The main vehicle for this operation is the RT CompaRTe program, a free training initiative operated by the Russian state channel RT that offers courses in audiovisual production, social media management, and digital influence strategies.
The program held training events for at least three years in eight Latin American countries, with over 1,000 participants in total, according to the report data as of December 2025.
Cuba occupies a central place in this network of influence
RT began broadcasting on Cuban state television in March 2020, following an agreement signed in 2018, becoming the only foreign channel with 24-hour signal on the island.
The regime has openly embraced this media alliance: President Miguel Díaz-Canel publicly congratulated RT on its twentieth anniversary with the statement that RT tells truths that others hide and because it "respects Cuba."
Russia also maintains 200 Spanish-speaking employees with offices in Venezuela, Cuba, and Argentina, which strengthens the operational infrastructure of this network of influence in the region.
In April 2025, Cuba signed an agreement with Russia to promote an Artificial Intelligence laboratory whose capabilities, according to experts, could be used to amplify the regime's political message on social media and enhance control over users.
At the same time, the Cuban government penalizes the dissemination of content deemed "contrary to the interests of the State" on social media through Decree-Law 35, while using these same platforms as a tool in what the regime itself describes as a "media war."
The U.S. Department of State has revealed Russian covert campaigns in at least 13 Latin American countries, where Russian public relations firms—such as Social Design Agency—recruit local journalists and influencers to distribute pro-Kremlin content that appears indigenous.
Gelet Martínez, founder of ADN Cuba, explained to IPYS Venezuela how Moscow tailors its ideological discourse to each local government by training communicators and influencers from Venezuela and Cuba, making RT CompaRTe the visible and seemingly legitimate face of a broader ideological recruitment strategy.
The Russian influence operation in Latin America intensified after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but its roots date back to 2009, when RT began operating in Spanish with correspondents in the region and started forging alliances with state media aligned with the Kremlin.
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