The president of Brazil, Lula da Silva received to Nicolas MaduroPresident of Venezuela on his first visit to the country since leaving Jair Bolsonaro the former president who prohibited entry to the country since 2019. The Brazilian government announced the beginning of a “new era” in the relationship between the two countries and at the regional level in general.
In this sense, Lula assured: “I fought hard to close the Mercosur agreement with the EU“, although he recognized that there are differences with the European Union since they insist on participating in purchases from the Brazilian State and the Government does not want to give in on that point.
In addition, he pointed out that would be in favor of Venezuela joining the Bricsa group made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
“Venezuela has always been a exceptional partner for Brazil. But due to political contingencies and misunderstandings, the president Maduro spent eight years without coming to BrazilLula said at a press conference after a meeting at the Planalto Palace, seat of the presidency.
“It is the beginning of Maduro’s return” to the regional level, and the meeting with the other leaders will be “the return of the integration of South America”Lula added, defining the moment as “historic”.
UNASUR Summit
Maduro arrived in Brasilia last night to participate tomorrow in the summit of South American countries called by Lula to relaunch the Union of South American Nations (Unasur). From the Government they anticipated that the president of Brazil would ask his Venezuelan counterpart talk about internal dialogue processes in your country, with which it shares a border of more than 2 thousand kilometers, “with a view to the holding of the 2024 elections“.
Since the beginning of his term in early 2023, Lula carried out rapprochement policies with Venezuela. One of the most important points of this approximation occurred with the trip of his adviser Celso Amorim to Caracas to deal with the reopening of embassies.
Bolsonaro had joined in 2019 the attempt of the former US president Donald Trump and former Colombian President Iván Duque to overthrow the Venezuelan governmentwhich they considered a “dictatorship”, recognizing the opposition deputy Juan Guaidó as president. Lula announced the return of a relationship “full” with the Maduro administration and criticized the position of European countries and the United States to support Guaidó.
“As a continent that managed to exercise democracy as fully as when it created the European Union, could accept the idea of an impostor being president (only) because they didn’t like the president who was elected?” the Brazilian leader wondered.
In turn, he pointed out the harsh sanctions of the United States against Venezuela: “It is inexplicable that a country has 900 sanctions because another country does not like it. I think it’s in your hands, partner (Maduro), build your narrative and turn this game around so that Venezuela can once again be a sovereign people, where only its people, through a free vote, say who is going to lead the country,” he said.
For his part, Maduro published a series of messages on social networks: “Fruitful, affectionate and important meeting with brother President Lula. It is the reunion of the brotherhood between Brazil and Venezuela. We are going towards the construction of binational, political, commercial and the protection of Pachamama,” he said on Twitter.
Maduro Brazil.jpg
And then he added: “Venezuela is prepared to resume virtuous relations with investors and businessmen in Brazil. We are open doors, with full guarantees.”
Source: Ambito
