"South Americans"
Nobody in my country considers going to Russia. They did in the 80's, but not since the 90's. People still go to cuba to study, but many abandon what they consider intolerable conditions, and all those I know didn't have any desire to stay after their plans.
If you meant something else, excluding Venezuela, please tell me.
Yes, in Russia you have less freedom, more corruption, lower quality of life, mor thuggery etc and so on.
For who is greater enemy see my point (2) and I understand that for someone directly familiar with United Fruit Company type of adventures USA may be greater enemy despite being overall less evil.
2) At least in my case Russia is directly targeting my country, while USA does not (in general, far away empires are less dangerous than nearby ones)
3) In addition Russia is more resource constrained so getting the same amount of funds benefits them more
4) USA is also doing plenty of non-evil things while for Russia this activity are much much smaller part of their spending