Lula gets Maduro: “There are many prejudices about Venezuela” | International

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva welcomed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to Brasilia and offered strong support for his diplomatic rehabilitation with a speech centered around the idea that “there are many prejudices about Venezuela.” Reference to human rights violations in the country. The leader of the Brazilian left also described the meeting between the two in Brasilia as a “historic moment”, eight years after Maduro’s last visit to Brazil and ahead of a summit of South American presidents called by Lula on Tuesday. The Chavista leader has insisted his country is the “victim of an outrageous campaign” that includes “900 sanctions launched like missiles” and has opened his arms to Brazilian investors.

After meeting alone and later with ministers and advisers, the two presidents appeared together. Lula blamed the political-economic-humanitarian crisis in Venezuela in recent years. [el Gobierno de Maduro] was undemocratic and authoritarian” and to create his own narrative and [Venezuela] Return to being a sovereign nation, where only its people say who should rule through a free vote. Then our enemies will have to apologize for the destruction they have caused.

Once he came to power, Lula re-established relations with the Chavista government and reopened the embassy. This Monday, he received Maduro as an advance guard for the summit of South American presidents, which was convened on Tuesday in the capital of Brazil. The meeting, billed as an informal retreat for leaders to exchange ideas on how to unify the region beyond ideological divides, would also mark the end of Maduro’s diplomatic isolation, sidelined during an already closed platform with Brazil and other neighbors. It recognized Juan Guaidó as the interim president of Venezuela.

Maduro is the first head of state to visit Brasilia for the summit. He landed with his wife Celia Flores on Sunday night after eight years without setting foot in Brazil. But his bilateral meeting with Lula has been confirmed three hours earlier. When far-right Jair Bolsonaro came to power, one of the first moves was to sever ties with Chavismo, bar Maduro’s entry, and recognize Quito as a leader — in line with the United States, the European Union and dozens of other countries. Governments-; Leftist Lula made the acquaintance by inviting him to his inauguration, which he did not attend, and resumed bilateral relations with an exchange of ambassadors.

Expectations are high that Maduro will be at this gathering of leaders, having not attended such a conference in years. Last January, Venezuela’s president canceled his participation in a CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) summit, fearing protests at the last minute, citing “fanciful plans designed by right-wing extremists.” Derail him and the event. The Chavista leader was once again recognized internationally as a legitimate leader, leading to a campaign to isolate him, including in the United States, but allowing oil giant Chevron to reopen in Venezuela at a time when prices were rising because of the war in Ukraine. .

The face-off between Lula and Maduro “will also be an occasion for the presidents to talk about domestic dialogue processes with a view to holding the 2024 elections in Venezuela,” the Brazilian presidency said in a statement.

Although the two countries demarcated the border in 1905, they have maintained diplomatic relations since 1842. Bilateral trade, now at $1.7 billion, peaked at $6 billion a decade ago when Lula’s successor, Dilma Rousseff, was president.

Years have passed since the leaders of the 12 Southern Cone nations last met. There is no defined agenda for Tuesday’s meeting. Only President Tina Bolvard, who cannot leave Peru for constitutional reasons and sends the prime minister, has not been announced. Without her, it would be a multicolored rest in ideology, but distinctly masculine.

Alberto Fernandez (Argentina), Luis Arce (Bolivia), Gabriel Boric (Chile), Gustavo Pedro (Colombia), Guillermo Lasso (Ecuador) and Irfan Ali (Guyana) are expected to arrive in the Brazilian capital throughout the day. Mario Abdo Benitez (Paraguay), Cha Santogi (Suriname), Luis Lagale Poe (Uruguay).

After a few years of political polarization and the Venezuelan crisis, migrant expulsions and the recognition of an interim president, created huge doubts and deep divisions in South America, Lula is trying to reset to counter-zero. His idea is to “restart a conversation that has been severely cut off in recent years. He wants to reactivate South American integration, but first leaders must identify the lowest common denominator and from there resume cooperation to address “global, regional and individual problems,” as explained in the Latin America and Caribbean secretary’s appearance. Ambassador Gisela Padovan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Brazil. President Lula wants leaders to exchange ideas openly, not about governments, and for relations between neighbors not to be left at the mercy of election results, an ambitious goal that seems abstract.

Hand in hand with Lula, Brazil has returned to Celac and Unasur (Union of South American Nations), which once had 12 members but is now a seven-member leftist club, paralyzed and without a diary. When the right wing won in many countries in the region, their presidents united in the Prosur (Forum for the Advancement of South America).

After visiting the United States, China, the European Union, and other allies and investing a good deal of his international power in trying to mediate the war in Ukraine, Lula is once again setting his sights on South America. Brazil insists that the meeting of presidents is a starting point, a conference where South American heads of state will confidently reflect together on how to increase regional integration, by what means, at what speed, and with what priority.

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